May Thirty-One, Twenty Twenty-Four

Friday

Have a good weekend

Much love,

PK the Bookeemonster

Eye roll and tired of it all

Thursday. Receptionist out. Phones out. All day. So calls are routed to my cell phone as back up.

Nothing to report.

Sprints tonight. Steve's got the last night of orientation at the gun range to help out with.

Have a better day

Much love,

PK the Bookeemonster

Not going out there

Wednesday

Not much to discuss today. Same old same old. Work, reading, crocheting, YouTube, sleep. 

No sprints tonight. Steve has the gun range but nearly 100% chance of rain at that time forecasted. Steve is not heartbroken.

Have a good day

Much love,

PK the Bookeemonster

What do you mean "we have to go back"?

Tuesday. On the other side of the three-day weekend.

I had a pretty good weekend. I crocheted on the wedding afghan, watched some Blue Bloods, read, napped, walked Keo. I received the yarn for Candy's Christmas present:

And I received the yarn for Randee's wedding afghan (March).

I finished reading A GENTLEMAN IN PURSUIT OF A WIFE by Grace Burrows. 5 stars

Currently reading DANCE WITH DEATH by Will Thomas. 12th of 15 in series Cyrus Barker, a Scottish private enquiry agent, and his assistant, Welshman Thomas Llewelyn, in late 19th century London

In June of 1893, the future Nicholas II travels to London for a royal wedding, bringing with him his private security force and his ballerina mistress, Mathilde Kchessinska. Rumored to be the target of a professional assassin known only as La Sylphide, and the subject of conspiracies against his life by his own family who covet his future throne, Nicholas is protected by not only private security, but the professional forces of both England and Russia. All of these measures prove inadequate when Prince George of England is attacked by an armed anarchist who mistakes him for Nicholas. As a result, Barker and Llewelyn are brought in to help track down the assassin and others who might conspire against the life of the tsesarevich . The investigations lead them down several paths, including Llewelyn's old nemesis, the assassin Sofia Ilyanova. With Barker and Llewelyn both surviving separate attempts on their lives, the race is on to find both the culprit and the assassin they hired. Taking them through high society (including a masked ball at Kensington Palace) and low, chasing down motives both personal and political, Barker and Llewelyn must solve the case of their life before the crime of the century is committed.

Published 2021; 320 pages

I might be sticking with a nonfiction book (shock!), THE REVOLUTIONARY: Samuel Adams by Stacy Schiff

Thomas Jefferson asserted that if there was any leader of the Revolution, “Samuel Adams was the man.” With high-minded ideals and bare-knuckle tactics, Adams led what could be called the greatest campaign of civil resistance in American history. Stacy Schiff returns Adams to his seat of glory, introducing us to the shrewd and eloquent man who supplied the moral backbone of the American Revolution. A singular figure at a singular moment, Adams amplified the Boston Massacre. He helped to mastermind the Boston Tea Party. He employed every tool available to rally a town, a colony, and eventually a band of colonies behind him, creating the cause that created a country. For his efforts he became the most wanted man in America: When Paul Revere rode to Lexington in 1775, it was to warn Samuel Adams that he was about to be arrested for treason. In The Revolutionary: Samuel Adams, Schiff brings her masterful skills to Adams’s improbable life, illuminating his transformation from aimless son of a well-off family to tireless, beguiling radical who mobilized the colonies. Arresting, original, and deliriously dramatic, this is a long-overdue chapter in the history of our nation.

Published 2022; 432 pages

Sprints tonight. Steve has the gun range orientation to help out with. 

Have a good day

Much love,

PK the Bookeemonster

So happy for the weekend, I'm levitating!

TGIF! Three-day weekend

Reading A GENTLEMAN IN SEARCH OF A WIFE by Grace Burrows. 5th of 5 in Lord Julian histmyst series.

Lord Julian Caldicott accepts a request to search for the missing wife of Mr. John Tait. Evelyn Tait disappeared five years ago, and as Julian attempts to follow a cold trail, he meets with resistance, lies, and suspicion from those who should seek most eagerly to aid him. Matters grow more complicated when the investigation drives a wedge of silence between Julian and his dear friend Hyperia West. Julian battles his own past, unexpected enemies, and Hyperia’s disapproving brother while searching for the prodigal wife, and just when he’s tempted to give up in disgust, he realizes the lady is in serious danger. She needs not only to be found, but also to be rescued from imminent peril, no matter the cost to Julian or to the dreams he’s dared to begin to cherish.

Published 2024; 258 pages.

And I'll be starting SECOND SHOT by Cindy Dees. 2nd in Helen Warwick spy series.

Retirement isn’t easy for a former CIA assassin. For fifty-five-year-old Helen Warwick, it may be impossible. Even Helen’s family doesn’t know the true nature of the work she’s done for decades—the secret black ops, the sanctioned executions. But her plan to spend time reconnecting with her grown children has just been blown up—along with her son’s house—by hired killers. Why is she being targeted now—and by whom? Years of eliminating the nation’s enemies one sniper bullet at a time have earned Helen powerful adversaries. Then there are mysterious new foes, including a psychopath dubbed The DaVinci Killer, who wages a twisted war with a rival serial killer to turn murder into art. And when he sets his sights on Helen, she may very well become his next exhibit. From homegrown spies to Russian mafia hitmen, Helen’s ghosts don’t just haunt—they kill. And staying alive long enough to make up for the past, and protect those closest to her, will take every ounce of skill she possesses…

Published 2024; 320 pages.

Reading, crocheting, napping, walking Keo, watching YouTube. 

Sprints tomorrow afternoon. I'm thinking of not doing my morning show on Monday. Otherwise, I plan to do as little as possible until Tuesday. Doing nothing, less than nothing.

Have a fantastic weekend

Much love,

PK the Bookeemonster

We want the weekend

Thursday. Service Manager called in "with a sore throat" AND hadn't made the schedule for today like he is supposed to. 

And I don't know what is in the air but interactions today have just been nasty. I know it's a full moon today but it shouldn't be doing this, should it? I am very much looking forward to the three-day weekend. And be away from people. 

I finished the LONG TIME GONE thriller. I give it 4 stars. The concept was original, it kept me intrigued, an intelligent logical telling. To quibble, I noticed a couple things that a better editor could have fixed. But I'm interested in this author's work now. 

I don't know yet what to read next. The new Lord Julian doesn't come out until tomorrow. It's not a book hangover. It's a twilight zone of waiting and don't know what to fill it with. Another mystery? A SFF? 

So we'll see.

I have sprints tonight. The part I'm working on with the wedding Afghan is this stitch below. I'm liking doing it and it looks quite nice so it may be a larger section of in the blanket. 

Have a good day

Much love,

PK the Bookeemonster

Answers? Anyone?

Wednesday. Not the weekend yet.

I'm liking the thriller I started yesterday evening, LONG TIME GONE. I got to 66% last night. It's a fast read per usual with thrillers. Maybe I'll finish it today. Ya know, I did set a TBR for May but I'm pretty much ignoring it and absolutely mood reading.

Do I want to be? Maybe not.

I was thinking of crocheting Christmas gifts and what kind of time I have between now and then. I wanted to maybe do a crocheted stuffed critter for our new service manager's baby daughter but that kind of project is kind of intimating. But I found a pattern yesterday that creates these bunnies from just doing a square.

And it's easy and cute! So maybe I can do something like that.

No sprints tonight. Steve has the gun range. I'll be crocheting. 

Have a good day

Much love,

PK the Bookeemonster

Laid back ... or resigned? Who cares?

Tuesday

I've been in a thriller mood this year. I don't know why.

A new release today has once again caught my attention and I'm indulging. Why? Because I'm a mood reader. 

LONG TIME GONE by Charlie Donlea. Stand alone thriller.

On the first day of an elite two-year fellowship under the renowned Chief Medical Officer Dr. Livia Cutty, Sloan Hastings receives a research assignment in the emerging field of forensic genealogy. It’s the exciting, rapidly evolving science behind the recent breaks in high-profile cold cases from the Golden State Killer to the Cameron Young murder, and Sloan enthusiastically begins her research by submitting her own DNA to an online genealogy site. Her goal is to better understand the treasure trove of genetic information contained on ancestry websites, but the results she receives are shocking. Raised by loving, supportive parents, Sloan has always known she was adopted. But her DNA profile suggests her true identity is that of Charlotte Margolis, aka “Baby Charlotte,” who captured the nation’s attention when she and her affluent parents mysteriously vanished in July 1995. Despite a large-scale investigation and months of broad media coverage, there were never any suspects in the family’s disappearance and the case has been cold for decades. Racing to stay ahead of the media and true crime junkies ravenous to know what really happened to Baby Charlotte, Sloan’s search for answers leads her to Cedar Creek, Nevada, a small town north of Lake Tahoe. There, the Margolis family’s power and influence permeate every corner of the county, and while Sloan’s birth relatives are initially welcoming, they’re also mysterious and tight-lipped. Not everyone seems happy about Sloan’s return, or the questions she’s asking. The more she learns, the more apparent it becomes that the answers Sloan seeks are buried in a graveyard of Margolis family secrets. And someone will do anything to keep them hidden . . . 

Published 2024; 352 pages.

Season six finale of The Rookie tonight. I won't be able to watch it until tomorrow. I'm expecting my two favorite characters to get back together.

Maybe if I wake up in the middle of the night I may watch it while crocheting to get sleepy again. I actually do that a lot. 

Sprints tonight. Reading and crocheting. Steve has range orientation this week to participate in so he'll be home later. 

Have a good day

Much love,

PK the Bookeemonster