It’s Friday, and you know what that means. Grab a cuppa, and let’s talk about what we’re reading!
Did this week just fly by, or what? I got up Monday morning and somehow it transformed itself into Friday. Maybe it was the leprechauns. I can imagine it’s frustrating to only be celebrated once a year.
I traveled this week, too, which always speeds things up. Happily, I write well on places, so got my word counts in, but a midweek trip does shock the system.
The trip: I’m at my parents to celebrate their anniversary! If you can imagine this—67 years married. 67! They are rockstars, and I’m so excited to be here to toast them. It’s been chilly here my last three visits, and I for one am ready for a little warm weather beach time. Next trip…
My monthly newsletter dropped this week, too. I skipped February in keeping with my social media sabbatical which, let’s be honest, I failed the moment the Princess of Wales situation blew up, and then Sebastian Rogers and Riley Strain went missing in Nashville. It’s lurking, but it’s still using the endless scroll. Have y’all been more tuned in lately?
I have a bunch of books to share today. I’m still reading SLOW PRODUCTIVITY (listening, actually, so it’s taking longer… point taken, Calvin) and THE LAST MURDER AT THE END OF THE WORLD. I’ve put Wolf Hall aside for a bit, and will come back to it later this year. It’s been a superb experiment, but I am definitely a read-it-all-at-once girl, because setting it down and only reading a chapter a week meant too many other books started competing for its attention.
I brought Lisa Scottoline’s THE TRUTH ABOUT THE DEVLINS with me to read this weekend. Lisa is possibly one of the most accomplished writers we have going, and I can’t wait to dig in. Whether suspense or historical saga, she can’t miss. She’s touring, don’t miss her!
I loved the premise of this short story by Liv Constantine, EVERYWHERE YOU LOOK (part of the Amazon Originals NEVER TELLanthology). This whole collection looks slick! I’m starting with Liv’s book, but I’m going to read them all.
THE PRINCESS OF LAS VEGAS by Chris Bojhalian is another interesting entry in his growing oeuvre. This one is about a Princess Diana impersonator in Las Vegas—and how eerily timed is this?
Christina McDonald’s prequel to her awesome Jess Lambert series, THE STRANGER AT BLACK LAKE, came out this week.
From her new Audiobrary imprint, the one and only Julia Whelan released CASANOVA, the audiobook companion to THANK YOU FOR LISTENING, which is the “book within the book”. I hope you’ve read TYFL, because it’s spectacular. This is a cool meta story.
Lisa Gardner’s newest Frankie Elkin mystery, STILL SEE YOU EVERYWHERE, is out and she’s also on tour. Lisa is a personal favorite and one of those authors I always return to when I forget how to write (Karin Slaughter and John Connolly are the others)
And of course, in case you missed it, IT’S ONE OF US released in trade paperback this week, and is on a Kindle Spring deal this week, too!
That’s it from me. How about you? Good week? Anyone plugged into March Madness? (My brackets haven’t busted yet!) What are you reading this weekend?
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It’s funny that it was fast week for you. For me Mon-Thurs we’re the LONGEST DAYS EVER. They were the days leading up to spring break. Which officially starts today!!! I will be lounging around with coffee, books and a boxer dog for the next 9 days. I love the kids I work with but the break is much needed. I’m starting Blood Sisters by Vanessa Lillie today. I’m also making my list of books to order on Indie Bookstore day at the end of April.
I just finished THE JUSTICE by James Patterson and Aaron Cooley on Audible. It was clearly written for the medium and is really an audio drama more than a book. The voice cast (which features recognizable names like Susan Kelechi Watson and David Rasche among others) does a good job with their roles, and the studio adds a lot of background noises, effects, etc. to make settings and other events clear.
I imagine it's like the audio dramas my grandparents used to talk about (before TV became the popular home entertainment medium).
As an author who produces audiobooks, this was especially cool... and a little disheartening at the same time. While I'd love to adapt one of my own books this way, the costs would be prohibitive (even with a less well-known cast). I guess it helps to be James Patterson.
Now resuming DAISY DARKER by Alice Feeney, and brilliantly narrated by Stephanie Racine. I paused to listen to THE JUSTICE on my wife's recommendation.
I also need to listen to the 15-minute checkpoint of my own audiobook currently in production. Over the past 5-6 years, I've really gotten into audiobooks, and even adapted to the loss of the work commute starting in March 2020. My Kindle battery being flaky and losing charge by the second hasn't helped my ebook reading (though I did pick up IT'S ONE OF US on the big sale).
I have read Thanks for Listening and I really enjoyed it!
This past week I finished Ruthless Vows by Rebecca Ross. This is the 2nd book in the duology. Both books are just slightly different but were very good!
I also read In Five Years by Rebecca Serle. This is a new to me author and I devoured this book. It was excellent! Not your typical HEA...but it was wonderful, bittersweet and hopeful. I immediately went out and purchased her new book Expiration Dates.
I live in Nebraksa and both our men's and women's NE Husker BB teams made it to the NCAA tourney and they both play tonight....fingers crossed. Creighton played yesterday and advances....yay!!
Wow - 67 years is impressive! Congrats to your parents!
I am trying to stay off my phone more often…but I keep getting sucked in. I did put a notification on that tells me when I’ve spent 10 mins nonstop in an app so that’s been helpful. But still a struggle.
I’m currently reading SMALL SECRETS by Lucy Goacher. A fall 23 release from T&M that I’m shocked doesn’t have more buzz: a pair of true crime podcasters flippantly say something that ruins another person’s life, and now they are trying to rectify their reputation and make up for what they did by solving the murder they accused the person of committing. Excellent audio and some of the best, most realistic dialogue I’ve seen.
After that it’s WHAT WE’LL BURN LAST by Heather Chavez.
A huge congrats to your parents!! 67 years!! It's rare to hear of people staying married that long. My own are going on 52 this year, and I thought that was an accomplishment. Also, yay for going home. Besides the weather, I hope you had a wonderful time.
I've been in a social media slump lately. Most likely a good thing, but I wasn't really a huge fan of it. However, I did realize that I tended to get the heads up about news stories there. Then I'd read them from a trusted site to get the full story. But it has made me wonder how many people don't take the time to go the trusted source and only use social media for their news??
I finished Lisa Gardner's STILL SEE YOU and I loved it. Like you, I love her and Karin Slaughter. So different, but amazing authors. Right now, I'm reading LYING NEXT TO ME by Gregg Olsen. It starts off with a bang, and I hope it ends with one.
67 year married! Wow, that's so awesome. 🥁🎉 Congratulations! ~ I have nothing new to report regarding my reading, just catching up on about everything. But I love Lisa Gardner. Superb writer. So looking forward to her new book.
I'm a horrible Middle TN resident and had no idea about these disappearances! One of my BFFs has been keeping me updated on Kate.
I've been with extended family (one side and then the other) for ten days straight and sorely in need of some recovery time this weekend which I will aptly spend reading and sleeping! I hope to finally finish the second All Souls book. It's been a little slower for me than the first, honestly, and reading Wolf Hall while reading a contemporary novel with an Elizabethan time slip is messing with my brain, ha! I've also been reading Wind in the Willows aloud to my youngest two and it's blowing my mind -- the vocabulary! the descriptions! I'm sure I'd read or been told some version of the story as a child, but this experience reading it to them now has been so fun.
Happy anniversary to your parents!! Enjoy your time!
67 years is beautiful. Congratulations to your parents!
I CANNOT put down (but must, because I have little kids) the Lisa Unger you recommended in last week’s comments: “The Stranger Inside”. So good!!! I’m also listening to “I guess I haven’t learned that yet” by Shauna Niequist. I was enjoying it, but at the halfway mark she starts delving into menopause, and I am hooked. It’s so good to hear it discussed so frankly. So many of us have been blindsided because no one used to talk about it. I’m about halfway through “The Woman in the Window” by AJ Finn, and still in the opening chapters of “The Wake-up call” by Beth O’Leary.
Any takeaways from SLOW PRODUCTIVITY yet? I heard the author on the Huberman Lab podcast a few weeks ago and enjoyed the interview. I like the idea of doing less generally. So often we're told to add things to our lives - add this supplement, buy this app, use this tool etc - and the idea of stripping things away is a bit revolutionary.
It’s funny that it was fast week for you. For me Mon-Thurs we’re the LONGEST DAYS EVER. They were the days leading up to spring break. Which officially starts today!!! I will be lounging around with coffee, books and a boxer dog for the next 9 days. I love the kids I work with but the break is much needed. I’m starting Blood Sisters by Vanessa Lillie today. I’m also making my list of books to order on Indie Bookstore day at the end of April.
I just finished THE JUSTICE by James Patterson and Aaron Cooley on Audible. It was clearly written for the medium and is really an audio drama more than a book. The voice cast (which features recognizable names like Susan Kelechi Watson and David Rasche among others) does a good job with their roles, and the studio adds a lot of background noises, effects, etc. to make settings and other events clear.
I imagine it's like the audio dramas my grandparents used to talk about (before TV became the popular home entertainment medium).
As an author who produces audiobooks, this was especially cool... and a little disheartening at the same time. While I'd love to adapt one of my own books this way, the costs would be prohibitive (even with a less well-known cast). I guess it helps to be James Patterson.
Now resuming DAISY DARKER by Alice Feeney, and brilliantly narrated by Stephanie Racine. I paused to listen to THE JUSTICE on my wife's recommendation.
I also need to listen to the 15-minute checkpoint of my own audiobook currently in production. Over the past 5-6 years, I've really gotten into audiobooks, and even adapted to the loss of the work commute starting in March 2020. My Kindle battery being flaky and losing charge by the second hasn't helped my ebook reading (though I did pick up IT'S ONE OF US on the big sale).
67 years?!? Congrats to your parents!
I have read Thanks for Listening and I really enjoyed it!
This past week I finished Ruthless Vows by Rebecca Ross. This is the 2nd book in the duology. Both books are just slightly different but were very good!
I also read In Five Years by Rebecca Serle. This is a new to me author and I devoured this book. It was excellent! Not your typical HEA...but it was wonderful, bittersweet and hopeful. I immediately went out and purchased her new book Expiration Dates.
I live in Nebraksa and both our men's and women's NE Husker BB teams made it to the NCAA tourney and they both play tonight....fingers crossed. Creighton played yesterday and advances....yay!!
Congratulations to your parents! 67 years! I read WOLF HALL a long time ago, and really liked it. The show, not so much lol
Wow - 67 years is impressive! Congrats to your parents!
I am trying to stay off my phone more often…but I keep getting sucked in. I did put a notification on that tells me when I’ve spent 10 mins nonstop in an app so that’s been helpful. But still a struggle.
I’m currently reading SMALL SECRETS by Lucy Goacher. A fall 23 release from T&M that I’m shocked doesn’t have more buzz: a pair of true crime podcasters flippantly say something that ruins another person’s life, and now they are trying to rectify their reputation and make up for what they did by solving the murder they accused the person of committing. Excellent audio and some of the best, most realistic dialogue I’ve seen.
After that it’s WHAT WE’LL BURN LAST by Heather Chavez.
Have a fun weekend!
Finishing ORIANA🥰🥰🥰🥰 🥰 and moving on to Wandering Stars
A huge congrats to your parents!! 67 years!! It's rare to hear of people staying married that long. My own are going on 52 this year, and I thought that was an accomplishment. Also, yay for going home. Besides the weather, I hope you had a wonderful time.
I've been in a social media slump lately. Most likely a good thing, but I wasn't really a huge fan of it. However, I did realize that I tended to get the heads up about news stories there. Then I'd read them from a trusted site to get the full story. But it has made me wonder how many people don't take the time to go the trusted source and only use social media for their news??
I finished Lisa Gardner's STILL SEE YOU and I loved it. Like you, I love her and Karin Slaughter. So different, but amazing authors. Right now, I'm reading LYING NEXT TO ME by Gregg Olsen. It starts off with a bang, and I hope it ends with one.
I hope everyone has a great weekend.
67 year married! Wow, that's so awesome. 🥁🎉 Congratulations! ~ I have nothing new to report regarding my reading, just catching up on about everything. But I love Lisa Gardner. Superb writer. So looking forward to her new book.
Congratulations to your parents! 🎉🎊🎈🎂🎁❤️🥰
This week’s list:
Bless Your Heart by Lindy Ryan
The City of the Living by Nicola Lagioia
The Devil in Silver by Victor LaValle
A Flicker in the Dark by Stacy Willingham
Her Majesty's Royal Coven by Juno Dawson
The Only One Left by Riley Sager
Razorblade Tears by S.A. Cosby
The Serial Killer's Apprentice by Katherine Ramsland
Safe travels and happy reading and writing! And Happy Anniversary to the parents! Wow! <3
I'm a horrible Middle TN resident and had no idea about these disappearances! One of my BFFs has been keeping me updated on Kate.
I've been with extended family (one side and then the other) for ten days straight and sorely in need of some recovery time this weekend which I will aptly spend reading and sleeping! I hope to finally finish the second All Souls book. It's been a little slower for me than the first, honestly, and reading Wolf Hall while reading a contemporary novel with an Elizabethan time slip is messing with my brain, ha! I've also been reading Wind in the Willows aloud to my youngest two and it's blowing my mind -- the vocabulary! the descriptions! I'm sure I'd read or been told some version of the story as a child, but this experience reading it to them now has been so fun.
Happy anniversary to your parents!! Enjoy your time!
67 years is beautiful. Congratulations to your parents!
I CANNOT put down (but must, because I have little kids) the Lisa Unger you recommended in last week’s comments: “The Stranger Inside”. So good!!! I’m also listening to “I guess I haven’t learned that yet” by Shauna Niequist. I was enjoying it, but at the halfway mark she starts delving into menopause, and I am hooked. It’s so good to hear it discussed so frankly. So many of us have been blindsided because no one used to talk about it. I’m about halfway through “The Woman in the Window” by AJ Finn, and still in the opening chapters of “The Wake-up call” by Beth O’Leary.
Any takeaways from SLOW PRODUCTIVITY yet? I heard the author on the Huberman Lab podcast a few weeks ago and enjoyed the interview. I like the idea of doing less generally. So often we're told to add things to our lives - add this supplement, buy this app, use this tool etc - and the idea of stripping things away is a bit revolutionary.