The 'tocks are all you'll see of me....

 

 TGIF

 I finished the audio of  KILLERS OF A CERTAIN AGE by Deanna Raybourn.5 stars. This is a stand alone so no series to follow. 

 1000 Pages Read Challenge:

9/24: 398

9/25: 198

9/26: 68

9/27: 52

9/28: 172

9/29: 0

9/30: 0

TOTAL: 888/1000

Books Finished for the week: HEARTLESS by Elsie Silver 3 stars; KILLERS OF A CERTAIN AGE by Deanna Raybourn 5 stars

For a second (or third) book while I'm working my way through the Galbraith tome, I'll need a palette cleanser. 

This came loose from the library today in both ebook and audio so I'll give it a try. PLAID AND PLAGIARISM by Molly MacRae. 1st of 5 in series featuring Four women — Janet Marsh, a former librarian from Illinois, her daughter Tallie, a burned-out lawyer, Summer Jacobs, a former reporter, and Christine Robertson — who have just bought Yon Bonnie Books in Inversgail, Scotland, in the Highland Bookshop mysteries.

 Set in the weeks before the annual Inversgail Literature Festival in Scotland, Plaid and Plagiarism begins on a morning shortly after the four women take possession of their bookshop in the Highlands. Unfortunately, the move to Inversgail hasn’t gone as smoothly as they’d planned. First, Janet Marsh is told she’ll have to wait before moving into her new home. Then she finds out the house has been vandalized. Again. The chief suspect? Una Graham, an advice columnist for the local paper—who’s trying to make a name for herself as an investigative reporter. When Janet and her business partners go looking for clues at the house, they find a body—it’s Una, in the garden shed, with a sickle in her neck. Janet never did like that garden shed. Who wanted Una dead? After discovering a cache of nasty letters, Janet and her friends are beginning to wonder who didn’t, including Janet’s ex-husband. Surrounded by a cast of characters with whom readers will fall in love, the new owners of Yon Bonnie Books set out to solve Una’s murder so they can get back to business.

Published 2016; 279 pages.

Steve is home with a dreaded Man Cold. It's trying to get me but I am eluding it mightily. 

 No plans this weekend other than the sprints I'm hosting tomorrow afternoon. I had thought to stop by a used book sale but I won't now. I don't need more books honestly and I'm going to rest as much as possible. Walk Keo, read, maybe some crochet, napping, maybe some cleaning, etc.

Have a good weekend

Much love,

PK the Bookeemonster

Disgruntled it's not the weekend yet

 Thursday

 Reading updates:

9/24: 398

9/25: 198

9/26: 68

9/27: 52

9/28: 0

9/29: 0

9/30: 0

TOTAL: 716/1000

Books Finished for the week: HEARTLESS by Elsie Silver 3 stars

 And

 I've got reading sprints to run tonight. Maybe just maybe I'll get some good reading in.

 

 Have a good day

Much love,

PK the Bookeemonster 

Thehellyousay it's only Wednesday

 Wednesday

 Reading update:

 

I'm only on page 65 of the Galbraith but I'm liking it.

1000 Pages Read Challenge update:

 9/24: 398

9/25: 198

9/26: 68

9/27: 0

9/28: 0

9/29: 0

9/30: 0

TOTAL: 664/1000

I don't have reading sprints tonight but I would like to get some good reading time in. It's our anniversary today. I don't know yet if Steve is going to stay home from the range tonight or not.

 Have a good day

Much love,

PK the Bookeemonster

Coffee, STAT!

 Tuesday

 New release day! Reading THE RUNNING GRAVE by Robert Galbraith. 7th of 7 in series featuring Cormoran Strike, a private detective, and his partner Robin Ellacott, in London.

Private Detective Cormoran Strike is contacted by a worried father whose son, Will, has gone to join a religious cult in the depths of the Norfolk countryside. The Universal Humanitarian Church is, on the surface, a peaceable organization that campaigns for a better world. Yet Strike discovers that beneath the surface there are deeply sinister undertones, and unexplained deaths. In order to try to rescue Will, Strike's business partner, Robin Ellacott, decides to infiltrate the cult, and she travels to Norfolk to live incognito among its members. But in doing so, she is unprepared for the dangers that await her there or for the toll it will take on her. . .

 Published 2023; 960 pages

9/24: 398

9/25: 198

9/26: 0

9/27: 0

9/28: 0

9/29: 0

9/30: 0

TOTAL: 596/1000

Books Finished for the week: HEARTLESS by Elsie Silver 3 stars

 

Reading update:

 I've got sprints tonight. Planning to just read.

 Have a good day

 Much love,

PK the Bookeemonster

Coffee is required

 Monday

 Over the weekend I read BONES IN THE BLACKOUT by Emma James. Previously published as MARRIAGE CAN BE MURDER. 1st of 3 in series.

 On the eve of World War II, Dr. Benjamin Bones is at war with himself. While most young men are being sent away to fight the Germans, Ben is chosen to serve on English soil. Ordered to move to wild, beautiful Cornwall, he must trade his posh London office and stylish city life for the tiny village of Birdswing, population 1,221 souls. But leaving his home and shelving his career ambitions aren't the only sacrifices facing Ben. His unfaithful wife, Penny, is accompanying him to Cornwall in a last-ditch effort to save their marriage. But moments after their arrival, Penny is run down in the street, and Ben is almost fatally injured. And while the villagers assume Penny's death to be an accident, Ben quickly deduces it was murder. As he convalesces in Fenton House, which the locals call haunted, Ben meets Birdswing's eccentric inhabitants. Mr. Gaston, the volunteer air warden, obsessed with defending his remote village against Nazi spies; Mrs. Cobblepot, a thoroughly practical housekeeper who believes in fairies; and Lady Juliet Linton, a prickly, headstrong aristocrat who won't take no for an answer. While adapting to life during Britain's "War at Home," a time of ration books, victory gardens, bomb shelters, and the Blackout, Ben sets about solving the mystery of Penny's murder--with a little help from Lady Juliet and the Fenton House ghost.

Published 2014; 284 pages. 4.5 stars. I loved the co-character of Lady Juliet. She's over 6' tall and has a STRONG attitude. I picture her as the actress Gwendoline Christie from Game of Thrones show.

 Starting another 1000 pages read challenge this week. The host always does it the last week of the month.

Goal 1000

9/24: 398

9/25: 0

9/26: 0

9/27: 0

9/28: 0

9/29: 0

9/30: 0

TOTAL: 398/1000

Books Finished for the week:

 Currently reading HEARTLESS by Elsie Silver. 2nd of 5 in Chestnut Springs romance series.

 

 Working as a nanny for the world’s grumpiest single dad should have been simple. Except I can’t keep my eyes off him. And he can’t keep his hands off of me. Cade Eaton is thirteen years older than I am and barely looks my way. Until I get him into the hot tub one night for a game of truth or dare. Then all bets are off—and so are our clothes. He’s gruff, a little rough around the edges. But broad-shouldered ranchers with calloused hands and filthy mouths are this city girl’s kryptonite. So who am I to resist? But it’s in our quiet moments together that he softens. It’s when he takes care of me that I realize his hardened exterior is just a façade. It’s when I watch him go all sweet with his little boy that I really fall for him. Someone convinced him once that his best wasn’t good enough. But I’ve never felt more cherished than I do in his arms. My contract may say this arrangement is only for two months. But my heart says this is forever.

Published 2022; 476 pages.

 Also reading NETWORK EFFECT by Martha Wells. 5th of 7 in Murderbot science fiction series.

You know that feeling when you’re at work, and you’ve had enough of people, and then the boss walks in with yet another job that needs to be done right this second or the world will end, but all you want to do is go home and binge your favorite shows? And you're a sentient murder machine programmed for destruction? Congratulations, you're Murderbot. When Murderbot's human associates (not friends, never friends) are captured and another not-friend from its past requires urgent assistance, Murderbot must choose between inertia and drastic action. Drastic action it is, then.

Published 2020; 350 pages.

Reading update:

 The weekend was fine. The weather is Fall beautiful. No sprints tonight for me to run. Tomorrow/late tonight, the new Robert Galbraith is out in the wild.

 Have a good day

 Much love,

PK the Bookeemonster

Another week in the books

 TGIF

 Reading update:

 I finished the Jennifer Estep book. I gave it 3.75 to 4 stars. The denouement lifted it above a solid 3. A little too romance-y at times but not bad. 

 Another 1000 Pages Read Challenge starts on Sunday. But I also have a scavenger hunt coming up the following Sunday. The prompt is "At least two words in the title start with the same letter." Here are my possibles so far:

 

For the 1000 Pages Read Challenge, of course I have the Galbraith on Tuesday coming in at 960 all by itself. But I believe I may be starting on Sunday, the second in the Chestnut Springs romance series.

HEARTLESS by Elsie Silver. 2nd of 5 in series.

  Working as a nanny for the world’s grumpiest single dad should have been simple. Except I can’t keep my eyes off him. And he can’t keep his hands off of me. Cade Eaton is thirteen years older than I am and barely looks my way. Until I get him into the hot tub one night for a game of truth or dare. Then all bets are off—and so are our clothes. He’s gruff, a little rough around the edges. But broad-shouldered ranchers with calloused hands and filthy mouths are this city girl’s kryptonite. So who am I to resist? But it’s in our quiet moments together that he softens. It’s when he takes care of me that I realize his hardened exterior is just a façade. It’s when I watch him go all sweet with his little boy that I really fall for him. Someone convinced him once that his best wasn’t good enough. But I’ve never felt more cherished than I do in his arms. My contract may say this arrangement is only for two months. But my heart says this is forever.

Published 2022;  476 pages.

I'm still very much enjoying the Raybourn audiobook. I re-started the practice cowl last night with a different crochet stitch of which I am much more comfortable and I think it will do very nicely. I will continue with it and actually looking forward to working on it. 

 I should be getting the yarn for the Christmas present for Randee (bead lady) today and I found an easy beginner pattern for that, too. I've got reading sprints tomorrow afternoon but no other plans for the weekend.

Have a good weekend

Much love,

PK the Bookeemonster