PK the Bookeemonster: And wondering where the weekend went

Monday, May 1, 2023

And wondering where the weekend went

Monday

I didn't go to the coffee shop on Saturday and I'm happy with the decision. I needed to de-people and de-stress and Keo was very sleepy from the Gabapenten and probably didn't need to be hauled around in the vehicle anymore that week.

I read yesterday as a palate cleanser, FALLING FOR HIS FAKE GIRLFRIEND by Shannon Stacey. 4th in the Sutton's Place category romance series.

Over-the-top Molly Cyrs hardly seems a match for bookish Callan Avery. But when Molly suggests they pose as a couple to assuage Stonefield’s anxiety about its new male librarian, his pretend paramour is all Callan can think about. Callan’s looking for a family, though, and kids aren’t in Molly’s story. Unless he can convince Molly that she’s not “too much”…and that to him, she’s just enough!

Published January 2023; 288 pages. She is my favorite category author. I hate the popular romance tropes of cowboys, unexpected babies, and fake relationships but .... three of the four books in this series does each of these. Stacey does them WELL. Smart. A part of the story but not stupidly, if you take my meaning.

New month -- new theme for readers. Another "middle-grade" reading challenge. Middle Grade May. I've been looking around and I think I have some good contenders so I will participate.

First up, THE SECRET LIFE OF MS. FINKLEMAN by Ben H. Winters. I chose this because of the author. He wrote one of my favorite mystery trilogies, THE LAST POLICEMAN. And this book was nominated for an Edgar in the juvenile category.

Ms. Finkleman is just our boring old music teacher. Or is she? It all starts with a Special Project in Mr. Melville's Social Studies Solve a mystery in your own life. For seventh grader Bethesda Fielding, one mystery is too tempting to Ms. Finkleman. Bethesda is convinced that her mousy Music Fundamentals teacher is hiding a secret life, and she’s determined to find out what it is. But no one is prepared for what she learns. Ms. Finkleman used tobe . . . a rock star? Soon the whole school goes rock crazy, and a giant concert is in the works with none other than timid Ms. Finkleman at the helm! But the case isn’t quite closed, and the questions continue to swirl forBethesda. Could there be even more to the secret life of Ms. Finkleman than she already revealed? With the help of her rock-obsessed classmate Tenny Boyer, Bethesda won’t stop until she solves the real mystery of Ms. Finkleman once and for all!

Published 2009; 260 pages.

Also starting MURDER AT HALF MOON GATE by Andrea Penrose. 2nd of 7 in series featuring The Earl of Wrexford, a scientist, and Charlotte Sloane, a satirical cartoonist working under her dead husband’s name, in Regency London

When Lord Wrexford discovers the body of a gifted inventor in a dark London alley, he promptly alerts the watchman and lets the authorities handle the matter. But Wrexford soon finds himself drawn into the murder investigation when the inventor’s widow begs for his assistance, claiming the crime was not a random robbery. It seems her husband’s designs for a revolutionary steam-powered engine went missing the night of his death. The plans could be worth a fortune . . . and very dangerous in the wrong hands. Joining Wrexford in his investigation is Charlotte Sloane, who uses the pseudonym A. J. Quill to publish her scathing political cartoons. Her extensive network of informants is critical for her work, but she doesn’t mind tapping that same web of spies to track down an elusive killer. Each suspect—from ambitious assistants to rich investors, and even the inventor’s widow—is entwined in a maze of secrets and lies that leads Wrexford and Sloane down London’s most perilous stews and darkest alleyways. With danger lurking at every turn, the potent combination of Wrexford’s analytical mind and Sloane’s exacting intuition begins to unravel the twisted motivations behind the inventor’s death. But they are up against a cunning and deadly foe—a killer ready to strike again before they can recover the inventor’s priceless designs . . .

Published 2018; 370 pages.

Keo has discovered ice cream.

Because he's off the steroids and not as ravenously hungry, he doesn't it his regular dog food as easily. And he only wants to eat sweet things so in order to give him his meds, I've had to try different things. Apples, honey, and now ice cream he will eat without checking out for yucky things.