Remain Calm! by Lincoln Peirce

Another knock out of the park for Peirce. I don’t know how there are so many new storylines for Nate even when the overall themes are familiar. We get that most wonderful time of the year, back to school, as well as Halloween, School Picture Guy, and detention. But we also get Nate writing a graphic novel for math, him joining the school newspaper to write and advice column, and getting tripped up by a bad horoscope. And someone very surprising makes an apology.

Four and a half stars

This book came out September 3, 2024

Big Nate #31

Follows This Means War!

ARC kindly provided by Andrews McMeel Publishing and NetGalley

Opinions are my own

A Christmas Murder by Mary Grand

For winter mysteries, nothing says "locked room" quite like a blizzard. And that is what happens here as well, in a fancy manor on an island. The third book in a series, I didn't feel like I was missing anything by not having read the first two. 

Susan doesn't have her daughter this Christmas and is anticipating something very quiet. But then her friend (NOT her boyfriend) asks if she can com e help while a super rich man brings his family (his wife, his two kids, their significant others, and his business partner) back to the island to celebrate in a place where they spent so many pleasant summers. Well, at least until his first wife died.

There is some good character development in this book but I didn't love the end. And our protagonist is put into too much danger for my liking. 

Three and a half stars

This book comes out September 5, 2024

ARC kindly provided by Boldwood Books and NetGalley

Opinions are my own

The Lost Art of Connecting by Susan McPherson, Jackie Ashton

People today are doinga connections all wrong according to McPherson. This book was written in the midst of COVID and, of course, people were isolated. But it started before that (and, according to many has worsened since.)

McPherson talks about having the right kind of connections, getting into them for the right reasons, and having the right depths. She talks about ways to build connections and how to do so purposefully.

Four stars

This book came out March 23, 2021

Audible book of mine
Opinions are my own

Randomistas by Andrew Leigh

Leigh REALLY likes randomized testing. In this book, he explores how it has changed politics, philanthropy, and even grocery stores. 

The book is a bit dense and took me a long time to get through. The premise was interesting for a few chapters at a time and the stories were interesting but it got a bit repetitive. And Leigh seemed a little skeptical of any other kind of testing. I mean, random testing is great, maybe the best of all testing, but other methods are equally valid. 

Three stars

This book came out October 9, 2018

Audible book

Opinions are my own

Monthly Reread August 2024

Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie

This book came out November 1st, 1937

Hercule Poirot #17

Follows Dumb Witness

Followed by Appointment with Death

Borrowed as audiobook from Libby

Clean Sweep by Ilona Andrews 

Innkeeper Chronicles #1

Four stars

Followed by Sweep in Peace

cGraphicAudio borrowed from Audible Plus

Sweep in Peace by Ilona Andrews

Innkeeper Chronicles #2

Follows Clean Sweep

Followed by One Fell Sweep

This book came out November 13, 2015

GraphicAudio borrowed from Audible Plus

One Fell Sweep by Ilona Andrews

Innkeeper Chronicles #3

Follows Sweep in Peace

Followed by Sweep of the Blade

This book came out November 13, 2015

GraphicAudio borrowed from Audible Plus

Sweep of the Blade by Ilona Andrews

Innkeeper Chronicles #4

Follows One Fell Sweep
Followed by Sweep of the Heart
This book came out December 2018
GraphicAudio of mine

Sweep with Me by Ilona Andrews

Innkeeper Chronicles #4.5

Follows Sweep of the Blade

This book came out December 20th, 2016

Ebook of my own on Kindle

Sweep of the Heart by Ilona Andrews

Innkeeper Chronicles #5

This book came out December 13, 2022

Follows Sweep with Me

Borrowed as audiobook from Hoopla

Playing the Witch Card by K.J. Dell'Antonia

Flair Hardwicke is in the middle of a divorce and has moved home to Rattleboro, Kansas to take over her grandmother's bakery. She had run away from the family legacy (magic) and still doesn't really want to be a part of the town's celebrations around Halloween. But she's been pulled into the festivities and now her mother is in town along with Flair's bespelled ex-husband.

Throw in an old boyfriend who is now completely successful, his sister who REALLY doesn't like Flair, and a family history that is not only complicated, it may not be as historical as they think. 

This book felt a bit disjointed. About halfway through it got better for a little bit when Flair and the boyfriend started talking more but then fell apart.

Three stars

This book came out September 12, 2023

Borrowed as ebook from Libby

Opinions are my own

Appointment with Death by Agatha Christie

Opening lines can make or break a book and this one has a doozy: You see, don’t you, that she’s got to be killed? This is a line that will come back to haunt some of the characters in this book when Mrs. Boynton ends up dead. Certainly none of her three stepchildren nor even her own daughter will mourn the woman. She wielded the family wealth like a jail. For most of them, this was the first time they had ever left home (and what a place to head out to!)

Their are several travelers who they have met along the way who have noticed how strange this family is. Could it be that one of them took matters into their own hands? Or was it something darker?

Of course, it could have been a natural death. But the doctor that was nearby doesn't think so and asks Poirot (who is on his own vacation) for help.

Four stars

Hercule Poirot #18

This book came out in 1938

Follows Death on the Nile

Followed by Hercule Poirot's Christmas

Borrowed as audiobook 

Opinions are my own