The Meandering Reader

Saturday, March 8, 2025

The Socialite's Guide to Sleuthing and Secrets by S. K. Golden

Evelyn is just trying to make it through life with agoraphobia. Plus, her paramour, Mac, took off at the end of the last book. But she's maintaining. At least until someone sends her a tiara. It's that tiara that attracts the attention of a group of ladies lunching at The Gold Room. Their leader appears to be a woman named Lois. And it's Lois who ends up dead.

While dealing with the fallout from that death, Evelyn is also working around the rumors of the Gentleman Thief. He robs the wealthy leaving only a red pocket square behind.

I enjoyed this book. I really liked that Evelyn is getting out of the hotel more often (whether by hook or by crook.) Didn't love the end of her foray into the city but I am excited to see what happens in the next book.

Three and a half stars

This book comes out March 11, 2025

Follows The Socialite's Guide to Death and Dating

ARC kindly provided by Crooked Lane Books and NetGalley

Opinions are my own

Friday, March 7, 2025

How to Climb Mt. Blanc in a Skirt by Mick Conefrey

I picked up this book based on a review from Smart Bitches, Trashy Books. The review came out in 2015 so I may have had more excitement had I been able to track the book down sooner and/or read it right after I tend to not re-read reviews before reading the book but it would have been helpful in this case and would have reset my expectations and perhaps I would have enjoyed it more. I picked it up a couple of years ago. I was expecting more of a deep dive into a few prominent explorers, especially those women who had climbed Mt. Blanc. Instead, there are a series of explorers, most with only a couple of paragraphs, many about whom the author seems to be smirking.

Three stars

This book came out March 15, 2011

Hard copy I didn't keep

Opinions are my own

Thursday, March 6, 2025

Wrecked in Yellowstone by Mike Stark

As soon as Yellowstone was made a national park, there were people anxious to make money off of it. E.C. Waters is generally known as being the most tenacious. He leaped on the chance to run hotels in the park before landing in a scheme to ferry visitors from West Thumb to the Lake Hotel. In between, he was fined and expelled from the park any number of times for trapping/poisoning animals, soaping geysers, and running any number of other schemes.

Definitely needed some editing but I enjoyed many turns of phrase that the author used.

Three and a half stars

This book came out May 9, 2016

Hard copy I didn't keep

Opinions are my own

Wednesday, March 5, 2025

Finlay Donovan Digs Her Own Grave by Elle Cosimano

In an unusual twist, Finlay and Vero are not the ones dealing with dead bodies. Well, not dead bodies they've created (as it were.) Instead, it's nosy neighbor, Mrs. Haggerty who is taken away in cuffs, a body having been discovered in her backyard. Mrs. Haggerty is quickly released but her house is still a crime scene. So what does she do? She has her nephew bring her to Finlay's where she strongarms her way into Finlay's bedroom.

That's bad enough, but after Mrs. Haggerty is cleared, the police start looking at Steven, Finlay's ex. Now, the man may be an cheater but he is NOT a murderer. Evidence is mounting that he had an affair with the man's wife but Finlay isn't so sure.

Three and a half stars

Finlay Donovan #5

This book comes out March 4, 2025

Follows Finlay Donovan Rolls the Dice

Followed by Finlay Donovan Crosses the Line

ARC kindly provided by Minotaur Books and Edelweiss

Opinions are my own

Tuesday, March 4, 2025

The Courage to Be Disliked: How to Free Yourself, Change your Life and Achieve Real Happiness by Ichiro Kishimi and Fumitake Koga

I'm not sure what it was expecting but it wasn't an allegorical conversation between a youth and a philosopher. I suppose I should have read more reviews but I liked the title and decided to pick the book up. I really loved the ending but, ifda, it was a slog to get ti there.

The youth is combative and wanting to know how to be happy. The philosopher is telling him it is a choice and walking through different philosophies to prove that thought to be true.

There is a lot of discussion on Adlerian philosophy but some of the advice boils down to, "it's none of my business what other people think of me."

In the end, it boils down to your own self being the only one who can change the world. If you shift your philosophy, the world will shift for you.

Three stars

This book came out December 12, 2013

Hard copy from library

Opinions are my own

Saturday, March 1, 2025

Lead Bigger by Anne Chow

Was this book groundbreaking? Maybe not. Was it informative? Yes. Was it entertaining? Also yes.

Chow writes, as the title says, about leading bigger. Really, (as she says), she means leading more inclusively. It's not exactly DEI but it's not NOT DEI. And I like that she explicitly says that equal doesn't always equal fair.

I also enjoyed her analysis of how birth rate contributes to job satisfaction. The interviews at the end were with some big names and contributed nicely to the points Chow was trying to make.

Four stars

This book came out September 10, 2024

Hard copy I didn't keep

Opinions are my own