Give and Take by Adam M. Grant

If you really thought about it, you might assume that people who hog all the glory or keep all the money for themselves are the only ones who get ahead. Grant uses this book to argue that the opposite is true, that we need to look for the givers in our lives. The chapters are split into topics like influencing people,  recognizing potential, and burn out and each looks at how givers and takers approach each. Each chapter also provides real-world examples.

Chapter 5 specifically talks about how to approach communication from a place of non-dominance. That an average interviewer was looked down on when they spilled coffee but it made an expert more relatable. In this chapter, he also references "powerless speech"- hesitations, hedging, disclaimers and more. Normally, you might think this displays a sense of inferiority but it can make people more receptive than a forceful arguement would.

Grant does a deep dive to understand why some people succeed and others fail. His theory? There are givers and takers in the world. The people who lift up everyone around them and the ones who are only in it for themselves. 

Grant weaves together stories of both givers and takers and why they succeeded and what they did to help or hinder others. My biggest surprise is that successful givers aren’t immune from self-interest, they just help others succeed as well.

Four stars

This book came out in 2013

Borrowed as hard copy from library

Opinions are my own

Best Hex Ever by Nadia El-Fassi

Scott travels all over the world for his job but he's ready to settle down. And there's something about coffee shop owned by Dina that is helping to stir his longing for the home fires. While he is very interested, she is a little more hesitant.

Dina is a witch. And when she was younger, she put a spell on someone she was in love with and it has reverberated through her love life since. She is not anxious to start something with this man who is so attractive. But he just keeps showing up in her life. Even at her friend's wedding where (darn those matchmakers!) they've been put in the same cabin. So, Dina decides not to fight fate. But will Scott survive?

Three stars

This book comes out October 1, 2024

ARC kindly provided by Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine and NetGalley

Opinions are my own

September 2024 Monthly Rereads

Opinions on all are my own

Murder With Peacocks by Donna Andrews

Meg Langslow #1

Followed by Murder with Puffins

This book came out February 7th, 2006

Audible book I own

Murder With Puffins by Donna Andrews

Meg Langslow #2

Four stars

This book came out June 15th, 2001

Follows Murder with Peacocks

Followed by Revenge of the Wrought-Iron Flamingos

Audible book I own

Revenge of the Wrought Iron Flamingoes by Donna Andrews

Meg Langslow #3

This book came out October 12th, 2001

Follows Murder With Puffins 

Followed by Crouching Buzzard, Leaping Loon

Audible book I own

Crouching Buzzard, Leaping Loon by Donna Andrews

Meg Langslow #4

This book came out September 6th, 2002

Follows Revenge of the Wrought-Iron Flamingos

Followed by We'll Always have Parrots

Audible book I own

We'll Always have Parrots by Donna Andrews

Meg Langslow #5

This book came out September 6th, 2002

Follows Crouching Buzzard, Leaping Loon

Followed by Owls Well that Ends Well

Audible book I own

Owls Well That Ends Well by Donna Andrews

Meg Langlow #6

Four stars

This book came out March 7th, 2006

Follows We'll Always Have Parrots

Followed by No Nest for the Wicket

Audible book I own

No Nest for the Wicket by Donna Andrews

Meg Langslow #7

This book came out May 8, 2006

Follows Owls Well that Ends Well

Followed by The Penguin who Knew too Much

Audiobook from Audible

The Penguin who Knew Too Much by Donna Andrews

Meg Langslow #8

Three stars

This book came out August 7, 2007

Follows No Nest for the Wicket

Followed by Cockatiels at Seven

Audiobook from Audible

Cockatiels at Seven by Donna Andrews

Meg Langslow #9

This book came out July 8th, 2008

Follows The Penguin Who Knew Too Much

Followed by Six Geese A-Slaying 

Audiobook from Audible

America's Geekheart by Pippa Grant

Four stars

This book came out April 5, 2019

Bro Code #2
Follows Flirting with the Frenemy
Followed by Liar, Liar, Hearts on Fire
Borrowed as ebook from Kindle Unlimited

Stud in the Stacks by Pippa Grant

Three and a half stars

Follows Mister McHottie

Followed by Rockaway Bride

This book came out January 5th, 2018

Borrowed as ebook from Kindle Unlimited

Opinions are my own

The Soulmate Equation by Christina Lauren

Four stars

This book came out May 18th, 2021

DNADuos #1

Followed by The True Love Experiment

Borrowed as ebook from Libby

Opinions are my own

Slow Horses by Mick Herron

I heard about this one of my podcasts. For the first fifty pages, I wondered why I kept reading it. Then, I was hooked.
What do they do with spies that aren’t good enough for the field but aren’t bad enough to be fired? They’re sent to the Slough House. And that’s who we’re following, the occupants known as the Slow Horses. There are the screw ups, the alcoholics, and the people who no one likes. But one of them obviously isn’t as slow as everyone believes because they’re all about to be plunged into a mystery. Parallel stories tell us about a young British boy of Pakistani descent who’s been kidnapped. The kidnappers have promised to cut off his head on a live internet feed. Then there’s the betrayal in Slough House. But who’s done the betraying and why is one agent dead and another one near to it?

Four stars

This book came out June 1, 2010

Slough House #1

Followed by Dead Lions

Borrowed as ebook from Libby

Opinions are my own

Sharp Edges by Jayne Ann Krentz

Eugenia Swift is the director of the Leabrook Glass Museum. She's big into glass sculptures, not unlike an artist who just died and left his collection to the museum. As such, she's going to Frog Cove Island to take a look at the collection. However, the collector died under... mysterious circumstances so her boss decrees that Eugenia must take along a bodyguard, Cyrus Colfax.

Colfax doesn't know much about glass art, outside of a cup (chalice) that was stolen from him by a former partner who ended up wanting Colfax dead. He does know he likes beer and Hawaiian shirts, both of which seem to irritate the classy Eugenia. But the two are going to pose as a couple in order to give him an excuse to come to the island.

I remember enjoying this book more when it first came out. As you might expect nearly 20 years later, some of the attitudes are a bit grating but the story is still good and Krentz's style holds up. 

Three stars

This book came out February 1, 1998

Borrowed as ebook from Kindle Unlimited

Opinions are my own

Happy Bloody Christmas by Jo Middleton

Anna Johnson is waking up to a life that she's not totally in love with. So, normal. She's hungover, her husband is oblivious, and her kids are temperamental. In fact, her husband lets her start the day with something... odiferous. She's lamenting her life with a house to clean up after a party and her husband's judgmental family showing up in 26 hours. And it's all gotten worse. Not only was her cat locked into the larder, but so was a dead Santa Claus. And the dead Santa Claus was her boss who no one really liked. 

I liked aspects of this story, it was quick, it take place over a day. Also, I enjoyed the fact that Anna and Oli seem to have a realistic marriage where they sometimes love each other and sometimes... eh. I didn't always get the comedy but I tried not to hold that against this book (that seems more like a me thing). I also didn't like how much Anna was actively interfering with the investigation. Note that this is not a "fairly clued" mystery as there is really only one hint as to who the killer is. 

Three stars

This book came out September 26, 2024

ARC kindly provided by Avon Books UK and NetGalley

Opinions are my own

The Librarian of Crooked Lane by C.J. Archer

Sylvia Ashe is all alone in the world. Her brother died in the war and her mother in the flu that followed after. She was lucky to get a job in a library, even if the boss is a raging misogynist. Most women have lost their jobs after the men returned from war. Now she only has her friend Daisy.
It’s Daisy reading a newspaper one day that sets them off on a grand adventure. There is a picture of an heir to a title, Gabe Glass. He has a connection to her brother and Sylvia would like to know what it is.
While she doesn’t find out all of the information in this book, she does get to help Gabe figure out who is creating forgeries of magic paintings. She also gets a job in a library on Crooked Lane, one that specializes in book on magic.

Four stars

The Glass Library #1

This book came out September 6, 2022

Followed by The Medici Manuscript

Borrowed as ebook from Libby

Opinions are my own

Reread as ebook from Libby April 2025