The Meandering Reader

Wednesday, April 8, 2026

Hexes Go Well with Tequila by LeAnna Ehrsam

This book felt like a cozy fiction book with a random sex scene thrown in for... reasons?

Ursula Cambridge's relationship is failing. When a mysterious invitation appears, she decides to take up the offer to live in The Lost Souls House. Pretty quickly, she makes friends. One night, they get drunk on margaritas and decide to "hex" the people that have wronged them. Except that the hexes turn out to be real.

There are also a number of sub-plots with a grumpy bachelor and his wayward niece, a friend of a friend who is running for mayor, and the man who is running against her on "family values" who is, not surprisingly, someone who doesn't hold those same values to himself.

Three stars

The Lost Souls #1

This book came out September 24, 2024

Followed by Curses Dance with Bourbon

Borrowed as ebook from Libby

Opinions are my own

Tuesday, April 7, 2026

Invisible Influence by Jonah Berger, Keith Nobbs (Narrator)

I think more people are going to be aware of some of the ideas behind this book, especially after Meryl Streep's speech in The Devil Wears Prada about why Anne Hathaway is wearing her sweater. Berger studied the reasons that we make decisions. This is a very Western-centered (especially American) look at how we make choices whether it's the clothes we wear, the cars we drive, or the beer we order. He also looks at how certain styles and colors cycle in and out of popularity.

Three stars

This book came out Jun 14, 2016

Borrowed as audiobook from Libby

Opinions are my own

Monday, April 6, 2026

Agnes Sharp and the Wedding to Die For by Leonie Swann

Four stars

Miss Sharp Investigates #3

Follows Agnes Sharp and the Trip of a Lifetime

The book comes out April 7, 2026

ARC kindly provided by Soho Press and NetGalley

Opinions are my own

Sunday, April 5, 2026

The Escape Game by Marissa Meyer, Tamara Moss

Sierra Angelos is back on the set of "The Escape Game." Season four will be particularly fraught as last season, her sister Alicia was killed and a number of people presume that she committed the crime. This year, she's back to try and figure out what happened. But the teams change every year so she's paired with new people with the book being told in third person point of view from each of the team.

Sierra, Beck, Carter, and Adi are competing against other teams to be the fastest to escape various rooms. And, like Sierra, they each carry their own baggage.

Of course, as these books go, they will band together to overcome. The ending got a little bit convoluted, but I generally enjoyed this book and am excited to read the next in the series.

Four stars

This book comes out April 7, 2026

ARC kindly provided by Penguin Random House and Edelweiss

Opinions are my own

Saturday, April 4, 2026

This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me by Ilona Andrews

stars

This book came out March 31, 2026

ARC kindly provided by Macmillan and Edelweiss

Opinions are my own

Wednesday, April 1, 2026

Let's Call Her Barbie by Renée Rosen

This isn't a story about Barbie, despite what the title's implications. This is, instead, a tale about the people who were instrumental in creating both the doll and her mystique. Often, people will refer to Ruth Handler but this book also covers her husband, Elliot and her children as well as coworkers Jack Ryan (enineer), and Charlotte Johnson and Stevie Klein (fashion designers.)

The story revolves around each, a third person narrator who flips past each person, letting us know what each is thinking and feeling as the idea of an adult doll sparks, then builds, feels like failure, and then skyrockets. Then, as the partnerships start to fall apart.

This is very much a fiction story but reads like narrative nonfiction. An interesting look at the history of all of these people with a lot of research put into it.

Four stars

This book came out January 21, 2025

Borrowed as audiobook from Libby

Opinions are my own