Finished April 15 The Darling Songbirds by Rachael Herron This novel is the first in a series set in the small California coastal town of Darling Bay. The Darling family has its roots in this town, even if none of them live there anymore. Hugh Darling, the last man who did, recently died, leaving his three nieces the properties that he owned: a saloon, a hotel, and a cafe. The only one still in operation is the saloon and it is barely holding its head above water. The nieces who inherited were famous in a small way as a singing group. Their mother had been a singer, but never made it big bef ..read more

Finished April 8 The Man I Never Met by Elle Cook This contemporary romance has a fun and intriguing plotline, with some side plots that also provide interest. The main story is told around Hannah, who lives in London and works in marketing. She lives in a two bedroom flat with a garden that she loves, and is friends with her older landlady Joan who lives next door. Her best friend Miranda used to live there with her until she moved in with her boyfriend. Hannah is close to both of them and goes out for dinner regularly with the couple. She has a weekend tradition with Joan where they exchan ..read more

Classics Club hosts a spin every once in a while challenging you to read a classic that is on your TBR list.  I've done some in the past and decided to do this one. (#37) Here's the link. You list 20 books and then see what comes up in the spin and read the book for that number on your list.  My list for the spin: 1.     Frankenstein by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley 2.     Dracula by Bram Stoker 3.     A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith 4.     Great Expectations by Charles Dickens 5.     East of Eden by J ..read more

Finished April 8 I Should Have Stayed Home: The Worst Trips of Great Writers edited by Roger Rapoport and Marguerita Castanera This is a reread for me. I read it years ago, but brought it to a class I was teaching as a part of a Readers' Advisory exercise where the students had a few minutes to examine a book and then do a recommendation. The student who got this book said that she wouldn't recommend it as the stories were all white people complaining about other cultures. I certainly hadn't remembered it that way, but fair, it had been a while since I read it, and also, I, being white, migh ..read more

Finished April 6 The Half of It by Juliette Fay This novel is centered on fifty-eight-year-old Helen Spencer. Helen is the mother of three adult children, Barb, Sam, and Danny, and the grandmother of one. Before the pandemic hit, Helen's mother Annabella Iannucci had come to live with her family in North Carolina, but she died a few years after the move. When Helen's husband Jim died suddenly shortly afterward, Helen learned his secrets as well.  The story starts in the present with an unexpected encounter with a man, Cal Crosby, from Helen's past. It then jumps back to Helen's girlhood ..read more

Finished March 31 The Painted Drum by Louise Erdrich This novel has several timelines, with all of them related to a sacred drum created by an Ojibwe man during a difficult time in his life. The story begins with an Ojibwe woman Faye Travers, who works as an appraiser and antique dealer with her mother. As part of their business they value and clear houses as part of estate sales. When she is called to appraise and clear a home of a man in her own community, she is not surprised to find indigenous artifacts there, as his family is descended from an Indian agent who worked on the North Dakota ..read more

Finished March 31 Get a Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert This is the first book in a series around three sisters, Chloe, Dani, and Eve. I found this story really interesting, with the main character Chloe being drawn as a more complex character. The family is a wealthy one, but Chloe has finally made the jump to living in her own apartment. Part of the reason she lived in her parents' multigenerational home was her chronic illness, fibromyalgia, which she developed after a bad bout of pneumonia. When a car out of control nearly hits her as she is out for a walk, she realizes that she has t ..read more

Post your reviews for books completed in April that meet the challenge ..read more

Finished March 30 Lone Wolf by Diana Palmer, Kate Pearce, and Rebecca Zanetti This is a collection of three short novels all with a wolf as part of the story.  The first one is Colorado Cowboy by Diana Palmer. This story has twenty-three-year-old Esther Marist is a real jam. Esther had fled her mother Terry's house in Aspen, Colorado after her mother's latest boyfriend Darrin pushed her mother down the stairs in a temper. She has her purse, but not her phone, and isn't really dressed for the winter weather. Esther is afraid to go to the police as Darrin had indicated he had contacts the ..read more

Finished March 22 The Plot is Murder by V.M. Burns This is the first book in a series set around Samantha Washington, the owner of a mystery bookstore in a small town on the shores of Lake Michigan. Samantha, a schoolteacher, has always dreamed of becoming a successful mystery writer, while her husband Leon dreamed of owning a bookstore specializing in mysteries. The mystery bookstore part of the dream is about to come true, but it is a bittersweet reality for her though, as part of the money to buy the old downtown building came from her late husband Leon's life insurance. Before he died, S ..read more