Three days, the last one for five months!

 TGIF! For a short week, it felt long.

I'm going to be starting to listen to the audio of RUTHLESS VOWS by Rebecca Ross. Fantasy sequel.

Two weeks have passed since Iris Winnow returned home bruised and heartbroken from the front, but the war is far from over. Roman is missing, and the city of Oath continues to dwell in a state of disbelief and ignorance. When Iris and Attie are given another chance to report on Dacre’s movements, they both take the opportunity and head westward once more despite the danger, knowing it’s only a matter of time before the conflict reaches a city that’s unprepared and fracturing beneath the chancellor’s reign. Since waking below in Dacre’s realm, Roman cannot remember his past. But given the reassurance that his memories will return in time, Roman begins to write articles for Dacre, uncertain of his place in the greater scheme of the war. When a strange letter arrives by wardrobe door, Roman is first suspicious, then intrigued. As he strikes up a correspondence with his mysterious pen pal, Roman will soon have to make a decision: to stand with Dacre or betray the god who healed him. And as the days grow darker, inevitably drawing Roman and Iris closer together…the two of them will risk their very hearts and futures to change the tides of the war.

Published 2023; 432 pages.

I decided to make my TBR for January to see what I've got ahead. OMG. I had thought to go easy in 2024 because of the nonfiction and epic SFF I wanted to read. I need to give up sleep, I think.

And I still have a scavenger hunt book to choose and read: "Read a book from a series you are close to finishing". I think these are what my final options for that are:

No crazy plans for the New Years weekend. 

I've got sprints tomorrow afternoon per usual and I'll be crocheting my guts out. 

I'll be making walleye for dinner New Year's Eve and my personal tradition of watching Casablanca

And napping, and setting up 2024 book journal and daily journal thingies. 

Tonight we'll watch the ONE new episode of Reacher.

The usual.

Have a good weekend

Much love,

PK the Bookeemonster

We got this, pookie

Thursday

I finished A MURDER AT BALMORAL. It was okay. A weak 3 stars. It ended strangely and not happily.

I was tired last night so I crochet'd some but not as much as I was hoping for. I must crochet a lot tonight. I've got three weeks. 

Sprints tonight. 

Have a good day

Much love,

PK the Bookeemonster

Waiting it out ...

Wednesday

No sprints tonight. And yes, I'll be crocheting. I've got three weeks. 

And I'll either listen to an audiobook or watch some YouTube videos. 

Have a good day

Much love,

PK the Bookeemonster

You're not staying long, right?

Tuesday. 

The holiday weekend went well. We did have a white Christmas (brrr). Turkey dinner was fine. Steve pretty much liked his presents. Santa was good to me. I got a lot of crocheting done. 

I had a little difficulty choosing what to read/listen to. Even though I have SO MUCH to read in my TBR I just didn't know what my mood was and sampled several things.

Currently reading FIVE GOLD RINGS by Kristen Bailey. Stand alone rom com.

It’s Christmas Eve eve, and the holidays are not off to a good start for, er, Eve. After the surprise and shock of catching her boyfriend cheating, Eve – totally devastated – reacts by throwing the gifts she’s selflessly bought and wrapped for HIS family out of the window. But while doing so she discovers her own present from Chris under the Christmas tree: an engagement ring, bought at the jeweller’s where she works. What the jingle bells is going on? And what was he thinking? Confused and with her Christmas plans in tatters, Eve rocks up at the jeweller's for some tea and sympathy with her lovely employers, Mr and Mrs Caspar, who quietly put in a distress call to her colleague, Joe. Eve doesn’t know that Joe is secretly in love with her, but her bosses do, and they know he’s just the person Eve needs to comfort her in a crisis. Joe gets the call while moonlighting as a buff butler at a Christmas-themed bachelorette do and races across town to help console Eve. But as he learns about her heartbreak, the Caspars realise a crucial delivery has gone astray: five gold rings destined for Christmas proposals and weddings have been sent to the wrong address. Can Eve and Joe retrieve the rings and get them to their rightful owners in time? As they set off in Joe’s ancient mini – Joe still dressed as a sexy elf and Eve just a liiiittle bit tipsy – their adventure begins. With three proposals and two weddings to get to, it’s up to Eve and Joe to save Christmas.

Published 2023; 317 pages.

And for my "orange on the cover" scavenger hunt pick in January, I'm reading A MURDER AT BALMORAL by Chris McGeorge. Stand alone. The premise is that this is the British royal family if Edward VIII didn't abdicate and his family branch continued to rule instead of Elizabeth's.

The royal family has gathered at their Scottish retreat, Balmoral Castle, for a traditional Christmas--and King Eric has given nearly all of the staff the day off. As a blizzard gathers outside and a delicious dinner is prepared, the family circles up for the traditional holiday toast. King Eric makes clear he has something momentous to say--in fact, he will name his chosen successor. But as he raises a glass of his favorite whiskey from a bottle that has just been sealed, he drops dead. The King has been poisoned, only the royal family are present, and each one of them has opportunity and motive. The only person at Balmoral who keeps his wits about him is the beloved head chef, Jonathan--an outsider in the eyes of the royal family, and one who is now hurled into the role of sleuth. In a state of shock, out of his depth, and possibly in a killer's crosshairs, Jonathan must confront a hopeless case. Why would one of the king's own family members want to kill him? And how did they do it? The answers will shake the monarchy and the entire British Empire to its core.

Published 2022; 400 pages. 

Two new releases for me today but I may save them for the beginning of the year to set it off well. 

This is a 1000 pages read challenge week but I'm not going to track it other than by completed books this time around. I've been sampling so many options that I don't have a true count.

 

I have sprints tonight in which I'll keep crocheting like the wind.

Have a good day

Much love,

PK the Bookeemonster

Yes, Christmas is within sight

TGIF and a three day weekend! 

Here's our office Christmas tree this year. I couldn't find the ornaments from years past so I had to get some new ones. Added blue to our color scheme. 

We don't do a tree at the house.

No big plans for the weekend. I've got sprints tomorrow afternoon per usual. I'll be crocheting my little heart out. 

I don't know about dinner tonight; I'll make sausage balls for dinner tomorrow. We'll have turkey and so forth on Sunday and leftovers of everything on Monday. I'll make Chex Mix. We've got one episode of Reacher to view.  I'll be walking Keo, taking naps, reading, watching YouTube and other things. And just enjoy three days off.

And the Christmas holiday.

Have a very merry Christmas weekend!

Much love,

PK the Bookeemonster 

Patient-ish

Thursday

So my other big news (other than the new service manager is awesome so far) is that I started Candy's afghan last night. The yarn showed up (showed you it yesterday), but the stitch I had found wasn't working for that type of yarn. But I found a very nice one. It's easy. It looks good. It goes fast. It's fun to do. Looks like this but in teal:

So I'll be cranking on that for the next 30 days. 

We got the scavenger hunt prompts for January. 

• 1/14 - Read a book from a series you are close to finishing
• 1/21 - Orange on the cover

I haven't finalized the first one but I do have some contenders. 

And for the second, I'm thinking either of these: 

I've got the first one right now as an audiobook via a library and the second on hold at the library. 

I've got sprints tonight. I'll be crocheting. 

Walk/feed Keo, crochet, soup, read, sleep.

Have a good day

Much love,

PK the Bookeemonster

So much to do....

 Wednesday

I think I'll be sticking with DANGEROUS TO KNOW by Tasha Alexander. 5th of 17 in series featuring  Lady Emily Ashton, a young widow in Victorian London.

Returning from her honeymoon with Colin Hargreaves and a near brush with death in Constantinople, Lady Emily convalesces at her mother-in-law's beautiful estate in Normandy. But the calm she so desperately seeks is shattered when, out riding a horse, she comes upon the body of a young woman who has been brutally murdered. The girl's wounds are identical to those inflicted on the victims of Jack the Ripper, who has wreaked havoc across the channel in London. Emily feels a connection to the young woman and is determined to bring the killer to justice. Pursuing a trail of clues and victims to the beautiful medieval city of Rouen and a crumbling chateau in the country, Emily begins to worry about her own sanity: she hears the cries of a little girl she cannot find and discovers blue ribbons left in the child's wake. As Emily is forced to match wits with a brilliant and manipulative killer, only her courage, keen instincts and formidable will to win can help her escape becoming his next victim.

Published 2010; 320 pages. 

We've got a new Service Manager starting today. He's seems a good guy. Even though he'll only be here today, tomorrow, and Friday before the holiday break, I don't want him to feel left out on receiving at least some kind of gift. And it's too late to get something from Amazon and I don't have the time to go out shopping. Thank goodness for Instacart that delivers from many local stores.  

Also good news, the yarn for Candy's birthday afghan will arrive today so I can get going on that. I'll have until January 19th to finish it. 

Teal is her favorite color. This will be a new type of yarn for me to work with and I just found a fun and easy and looks-like-it-will-go-quickly stitch to try. 

Tonight, Steve's got the gun range. I don't have sprints. I'll be making a new kind of soup that I've been hankering for. Sorta a Thai Coconut soup. A riff off of the Thai Beef salad that I love. We'll see how it goes.

Have a good day

Much love,

PK the Bookeemonster