“Only now, upon realizing you didn‘t get what you didn‘t know you wanted, you‘re barreling down the highway in a midlife-crisis-mobile with a suitcase full of cash and a man named Stan in the trunk.”

Emily Henry coming in strong, Page 1 🤣

The overarching story is about the fire at Los Angeles‘ Central Library in 1986 where over 700,000 books, plays, periodicals, maps, and other items were lost to the blaze and the fight to restore the library and what was lost.
The rest was a love letter to libraries, librarians, and the communities that form around them.

I really, really wanted to like this book. It‘s beautifully written but I‘m not super into books that are just one character reminiscing. Had to bail.

Michener chronicles the brief Hungarian revolution of 1956, the five days of peace, the resulting backlash unleashed on Budapest from the Russians, and the race to freedom from communism in Austria.
I enjoyed learning about Hungary, even though it it was focused on such a horrible time in its history. I even found out that my grandparents took in two Hungarian refugees who were fleeing after the revolution so it hits a little closer to home.

Aidan has eight chances to figure out who killed Evelyn Hardcastle. The catch is, he would relive the day of her death 8 times inside 8 different people who had gathered at her family‘s estate.
The twists and turns don‘t stop coming as Aidan discovers more about the people around him and about the prison he woke up in. I hadn‘t even finished reading the library‘s copy before I ordered one for myself. Read slowly and give in to the reread.

My best friend loves it so I‘m about to find out what the Murderbot Diaries are about.

“One aspect of the Hungarian revolution that must‘ve caused much consternation in Soviet Russia was the fact that it was the young men, whom communism had favored most, who most savagely turned against it.”

Fun stories about the author‘s life as a southern woman, wife, and mother ranging from home renovation mishaps to 9 year old sleepover drama.

An excellent historical romance that also deals with overcoming trauma. The rest of my review can be found on my blog.

https://kwielech.blogspot.com/2022/02/book-review-gravy-by-faith-colburn.html?fb...

Fantastic books! Thompson describes the many theories behind the discovery and settling of the Polynesian islands, both of the first people and of the Europeans.

“Eddie would go”
I knew Eddie Aikau was lost on a trans-Pacific canoe trip but I didn‘t realize the significance of the trip until it was covered in this book.

Evelyn Hugo is a former starlet from the golden age of Hollywood. She decides to share her life‘s story with a reporter on the condition they wait until she dies to publish it.
While the focus is about Evelyn‘s husbands, it‘s actually about the love of her life, who decidedly is not her husband.
Really great book with a huge surprise twist at the end.

Such a great ending to the trilogy!!
Adrian Montague, budding political reformist and anxious mess sets off to discover the meaning behind his late mother‘s spyglass, the first stop brings him face to face with Monty, the older brother he never knew he had. The brothers set off to find Felicity, the sister Adrian didn‘t know about, to aid in the venture. From Africa to Iceland, the Montague siblings form the family they never got to have.

I just couldn‘t get into it. I may circle back someday but moving on for now.

My first foray into cozy mystery & I wasn‘t sure I would like it. I was pleasantly surprised.
A fun mixture of Hallmark Channel Christmas movies, Sabrina the teenage witch, & Veronica Mars.
Hal runs her family‘s ornament factory in Marshmallow Hollow, Maine. When a slimy developer is found dead at the annual winter festival, Hal takes it upon herself to find the killer with her cute tenant, Hobbs. Oh, Hal is a witch. And her grandma is a reindeer.

There were some weird stories, some I didn‘t like at all, and some that I loved. It was an interesting collection of vampire stories, many that pushed the definition of what a vampire is. Definitely a testament to quality horror written by women.

I‘ve lived in Nebraska my entire life so I‘ve always known about the 1888 blizzard (there‘s even a mural about it in the capitol) but hearing the whole story is so much more heartbreaking and rage-inducing.
Thousands of people, mostly children, died in a freak blizzard across the northern plains in Jan 1888. The budding national weather service didn‘t seem to care to warn people until the cold threatened cash crops in the south.

Moll is probably the luckiest women in all of literature. Considering her close calls with the law, death, poverty, motherhood, love, marriage, &prosperity she lived a dozen lifetimes in the span of a few hundred pages.
There wasn‘t much for character development & Moll herself isn‘t overly likable but there‘s something about her that I can‘t help but like. Maybe it‘s her tenacity & charisma but I spent most of the book shaking my head & laughing.

I haven‘t read Holes since I was in middle school but dammit does it hold up. The characters are multidimensional, the three storylines twist into one perfectly, and it‘s just so entertaining.
Stanley Yelnats is an overweight teen, arrested for stealing shoes that he didn‘t actually steal. He‘s sent to Camp Green Lake where he is to spend the next 18 months digging holes and cursing his no good, rotten, pig stealing great great grandpa.

Vianne Rocher and her daughter Anouk moved to the small, conservative town of Lansquenet at the beginning of Lent and opens a chocolaterie, much to the frustration of the local priest Reynaud and his followers.
Full of characters from the ball-busting Armande to the abused Josephine, the proud Roux and the gentle Guillaume, Vianne gathers a new family around her and changes their lives with her strength, her chocolate, and her magic.

I have no words.
This book is the amazing, heartwarming, and heartbreaking story of 9/11/2001 and all the planes forced to land in Gander, Newfoundland, Canada when American airspace closed.
There was no question in the Newfies‘ minds that they would rally anything and everything they could to help the plane people, adopting over 6,000 passengers from all over the world for nearly a week.
I laughed and I cried. Have tissues handy.
#comefromaway

Omg they sent the fire truck with lights and sirens to the next town to get more toys for the kids!!!! I‘m not crying, you‘re crying 🥺😭

Sense & Sensibility has always been my favorite Austen movie adaption (Emma Thompson, amiright?) but this is the first time I‘ve read the book. I think it might be even better than the movie! The surprising funny moments, Eleanor‘s long suffering eyerolls, and Marianne as her foil. It‘s such a wonderful book.

Vinnie and Fred, two American English professors are in England doing research for their books. They both end up having affairs, Fred with an unstable British actress, Vinnie, with an uncouth tourist from Tulsa, OK, USA. Both affairs end badly.
Not a whole lot actually happens, just a lot of talking about things happening. Not for me.

Did you ever wonder what the monsters were doing while the humans were in lockdown or if there were supernatural reasons behind some of 2020‘s weirder news stories? Check out my brand new book available in print and digital on amazon.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09JZ1P3JC

Definitely not your normal beach read but it is October.

Schiff did a great job delving deep into Cleopatra, instead of painting her as a sex-crazed seductress as many do, the author tried to show her as a human and a ruler, making hard choices and doing what‘s best for her country. Schiff also included primary sources but worked to include the cultural biases the authors would‘ve had.

That old nursery rhyme took a dark turn 😳

You know how male authors sometimes describe how female characters think of their appearance and it‘s always sexualized and ridiculous?
I found a female author doing the same to a male character!

I don‘t know if Charlie and Eli Sisters are bumbling idiots posing as ruthless killers or ruthless killers posing as bumbling idiots.
That being said, the only character in the book I cared about was Tubs, who was a horse.
There were some ok things about the story. Eli had some decent character development but I didn‘t care for the rest. I picked it thinking it was a comedic western, it was more obtuse than funny.

Such a great book! Carol Burnett reminisces about her time on the Carol Burnett show. Peppered with interviews and guest speakers, the book covers the show from the first idea to the last episode.
And what I was looking forward to the most: the Curtain Dress from their Gone With the Wind parody. It was just as funny hearing about as it was seeing it.
Burnett is a comedy genius and a great person.

I... am not sure how to feel about this book.
The beginning was interesting. It followed the MC‘s horrible upbringing that lead to his job in a perfumery. He has no scent of his own but he also has a super sniffer which makes him a great perfumer.
But then the story takes a left turn when he becomes a cave dwelling hermit. And then the murders...
The end was a total WTF.
It was interesting then got weird.

When the computer system is down at work, you get to read and drink tea.

I say we throw out “prodigy” and all start using “wunderkind.” Who‘s with me?
(Book translated from German)

Brenna, oldest & core of the 3, has been in love with Fin since they were kids. When Cabhan's mark showed up when they were teens, showing him a descendant of the enemy, she buried her feelings, tolerating his presence as a friend. When it became clear that Fin needed to be part of their circle, Brenna was forced to put her hurt & anger aside. As they worked close to defeat Cabhan, the old love bubbled to the surface too strong to set aside again.

I read this as part of a reading challenge and it‘s as delightful as I remember it being.
Fawn rescues the runt from a litter of pigs and sells him to her uncle to save him from becoming dinner. Wilber quickly becomes part of the barnyard but when the animals hear he‘s to be butchered, they plot ways to save him. Charlotte, the spider living in the doorway, decides to weave compliments about Wilber in her web to convince the humans to spare him.

Five sisters: Bluebell, Rose, Ash, Ivy, and Willow gather together to save their father after he falls into a magical coma.
To Bluebell, nothing is more important than family but her sisters are all preoccupied with their own problems, be they selfish or legitimate concerns.
Meanwhile, their treacherous step-brother plots to take the throne from Bluebell.

Connor, one of the three Dark Witches of Mayo, spends his days working at falcon school and his free time with his sister and cousin working on ways to defeat Cabhan or flirting with the local gals. He definitely wasn't expecting to fall in love with his life-long friend and fellow combatant in the fight, Meara. But their journey isn't easy or clear with plenty of obstacles, both magical and ordinary.

Sorcha, the Dark Witch of Mayo, gave her life to protect her 3 children, giving them her power & spending the last of it to destroy Cabhan, a powerful witch who wants her magick & her body.
American Iona Sheehan is in Ireland to meet her cousins and follow her destiny. As a descendant of Sorcha and one of the 3, it is up to the cousins to end Cabhan once and for all. One thing Iona wasn't expecting: falling in love with Boyle, her cousin's friend.

Michael, fresh out of prison for being in the wrong place at the wrong time, is living with his sister in Ballymuir until he gets his feet under him.
Kylie, teacher at the local Irish school, is working to repay the money her father swindled and running from her past.
When they cross paths, they are drawn together, no matter how they each resist.

When a high school student in Kansas stumbles upon a small article about unsung heroes of the Holocaust, she didn‘t know she was about to change the world. With two of her classmates and their teacher, they began the Irena Sendler project to let the world know about the amazing woman who helped save 2,500 children from the Warsaw Ghetto.
This fantastic book covers their project and also Sendler‘s activities during WWII.
Read with tissues. 😭♥️

Oofta do not start this book when you‘re having a bad mental health day because it will make it worse.
I fully intend to finish it when I‘m feeling better because I‘ve heard great things, just have to bail for now.

1959s: June and Micky meet, fall in love, get married, and start a family. Then, Micky‘s music career takes off and he lets it and other women come between him and his family.
1980s: The four Riva kids have been fending for themselves for far longer than they should have, watched over by oldest Nina who dropped everything to be mother and father to them. Their annual summer end party will inexplicably change each of them, for better or worse.

Two series of book thefts from the New York Public Library ties two generations of a family together.
Laura Lyons and her family live at the library when a series of thefts bring suspicion on her husband.
Sadie Donovan works in the library when a second round of thefts rebounds on her when her familial connection to the first comes to light.
Two wonderful stories of women coming into their own in the shadow of the library.

Hedy escaped Austria ahead of the Nazis only to find herself imprisoned with them on the island of Jersey. This would be bad enough but Hedy is Jewish, everyday of the occupation is filled with terror.
Kurt just wanted a quiet life of being an engineer in Germany when he was conscripted and sent to Jersey.
Hedy and Kurt find comfort and love while doing what they can to undermine the occupiers and keep Hedy safe from command‘s attention.

Jackson is a brand new constable with a chip on his shoulder & a point to prove.
Kit is the head of a street gang who‘s mission is to support the needy of Victorian London.
Kit leaves a lasting impression on Jackson when she swindles him out of a coin, & when their paths cross again during a missing person‘s case he‘s working, sparks fly.
It got oddly religious at times which caught me off guard. Overall, not bad, some of it was a bit of a reach.

The Scholomance is a magic school to teach young wizards to control their power but Hogwarts it is not. The stakes are oh so much higher as the school is full of mals that see students as a tasty treat.
El is a loner, desperate to survive. The two ways to do that is to stockpile magic and to make alliances, things she is struggling to do.
Then there‘s Orion Lake. Golden boy of the NY conclave and inexplicably clinging to El like a hungry mal.

Loved it. Read it in a day.
Book two starring Sunshine Vikrim, single mom, sherif of Del Sol, and magnet for bad stuff. When love of her life and bane of her existence, Levi Ravinder, gets hit by a truck while protecting his friend in a bar fight, Sun is floored when it crosses with a missing child case she worked 8 years earlier. Sun also gets some quality time with Levi's uncle and some missing pieces in her own case.

Valentine spent 8 years working in various mortuaries in the UK before moving on to curate the medical museum at St Bart‘s. It was really interesting reading about how differently things are done in the UK vs the US. She didn‘t hold back when telling about some of the more unsettling things she‘s experienced and used humor to bring it all together.

Found my October reading in the library book sale stack!