Mad Honey
Can a tendency towards violence against women be inherited? Olivia left her ex-husband twelve years ago when their son, Asher, was only six. Now, Asher’s girlfriend, Lily, has been found dead and Asher has been arrested. Is it a case of the sins of the father revisiting the children? OrContinue Reading
The Christmas Murder Game
Lily’s aunt and adopted mother, Liliana, has died. Lily and her four cousins and their two spouses must play a game to win her luscious country estate/hotel. A snowstorm traps everyone inside the mansion with no way to communicate with the outside world. Twelve days of puzzles. Twelve days ofContinue Reading
Cartooning Made Easy: Circle, Triangle, Square
Cartooning Made Easy: Circle, Triangle, Square is an odd art guide. The book has quick pictures of how to turn circles into faces and ultimately entire bodies. It includes how to turn triangles into shoes and both circles and triangles into hands. However, it just shows fully drawn pictures ofContinue Reading
Murder on the Poet’s Walk
What could be more peaceful than a weekend poetry conference at a beautiful estate/hotel in rural Virginia? Fifty poets are attending. All are hoping to win a greeting card company’s job competition. Unfortunately, the tranquility is soon shattered when the estate’s manager, Jane, finds a woman’s body posed like aContinue Reading
Treasure State
Montana private investigator Cassie Dewell is working on two cases in Treasure State, the sixth in the Highway Quartet series. [Why is it book six of a series of four (the definition of quartet)? I have no idea.] Cassie’s first case is a bit of a puzzle. A poem hasContinue Reading
Small-Batch Keto Baking Cookbook
With sixty sweet and savory recipes, my biggest issue with the Small-Batch Keto Baking Cookbook is what to cook first. Should it be naan, red velvet cake, or brownie cheesecake bars? I chose Peanut Butter Cookies because I had all the ingredients (peanut butter, sweetener, and an egg) on hand.Continue Reading
Leech
In the cold windswept North, a doctor has come to replace a fallen comrade. But the doctor is not alone. She is hosting a Leech, an organism living in a multitude of physicians simultaneously in this eerie future world. The organism was also within the fallen doctor. But it cannotContinue Reading
Uncultured
Uncultured is the memoir of a woman born into a cult, who escapes only to join the army, which feels increasingly like a cult too. Cult life is even worse from a child’s point of view. Unprovoked spankings and sexual abuse from a young age is a normal day inContinue Reading
How to Lose Weight for the Last Time
Every person I know wants (maybe even needs) to know How to Lose Weight for the Last Time. Will this book fulfill that promise? The book takes the stance that weight gain is caused by the mind-not the stomach. Therefore, only by looking at the reasons why you overeat, andContinue Reading
Nether Regions
Everyone has a dotty old uncle, grandparent, or even spouse that cannot tell a linear story. They go shooting off in irrelevant tangents usually never returning to, or maybe even remembering, their original point. Nether Regions works exactly the same. What starts as a witty take on Heaven circles soContinue Reading
Loud
Welcome to the jungle! And the jungle is LOUD! The first female roadie, for bands like The Who and AC/DC, writes her memoir. Of course, it’s chock full of sex, drugs and rock and roll. But, also, it shows her courageous battle for equity at a time when women wereContinue Reading
Wait Till Helen Comes
In Wait Till Helen Comes, Michael and Molly are siblings who have a troubled younger stepsister named Heather. When their blended family moves to the country, Heather appears to have found an imaginary friend, Helen. Molly thinks Helen is a malignant ghost bent on killing children. But, Michael, their momContinue Reading
Secrets of the Looking Glass
“Wittier and wittier” mumbled the book reviewer (as she savored the wonderful new “children’s book” called Secrets of the Looking Glass). I put quotes around children’s book because, like the original Lewis Carroll book, this book is written for all ages. Like The Simpsons, but literary, you might say. NowContinue Reading
Why We Play
Why We Play explains why play is still necessary for adults. It includes exercises to get some short play sessions into your life. Even though I play video and mobile games every day, a few more ideas are always welcome. I particularly liked Scribble Art. Take a plain piece ofContinue Reading
Fellstones
Fellstones is an atmospheric horror tale set in a creepy modern day English village. Michael Paul Dunston comes home to the adopted family he has not seen in years. His adopted sister has called him home because his adopted parents are ill. However, when he arrives, they seem fine—but justContinue Reading
Bad Day Breaking
In Bad Day Breaking, the fourth book in the series, Sheriff Heidi has both personal and professional challenges to overcome. Heidi has had a rough life. Her parents being murdered sent her into a downward spiral of drugs and bad decisions. Now one of the people from her past isContinue Reading