2025 Blog Posts – Page 2 – Rosepoint Publishing

Rosepoint Reviews – August Recap – #Audiobooks #LiteraryFiction #LegalThriller #HistoricalFiction

Rosepoint Reviews-August Recap

Well, we certainly started out like it was August, but August petered out and started acting like Fall halfway into the month. Cool enough temps to warrant a sweater—it’s a cool wind that blows off those Great Lakes.

Still, some warm days and cool nights along with a couple gully washers produced an abundance of cucumbers and cantalopes, followed immediately by a surplus crop of cherry tomatoes. (I started adding cantaloupes to the cucumber juice—pretty good!) Not sure what happened to the Early Girl tomatoes, but hopefully we can dry enough cherry tomatoes to make several days of candy—so sweet and good. Also, in the crop this year, purple bell peppers and Japanese eggplant. I’ve started a second crop of peas and beans in the hope they’ll be ready to harvest prior to the end of the season—but realize I’m pushing my luck.

The August book pick at the Y Book Club was The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek. I’d read it years ago for a library book club in 2020 and opted to listen to the audiobook this time. I enjoyed both but this application was to refresh my memory for the Y book club.

Book Club at the Y - August

Once again, I love the insight brought to the novels by the participants. Most of us had never been aware of the “blue” people prior to reading the novel. While I voted 4.5 stars this time, I was surprised to see the average at four stars. Looking back at the vote for the same book by the earlier book club, was further surprised to see the average was the same. Four stars.

We reviewed thirteen books in August—half of those in audiobook form. The source of our books is our library, NetGalley, author and publisher requests. As always, the links on titles are to our reviews that include purchase information.

Rosepoint Reviews - August Recap

Wild Instinct by T Jefferson Parker (CE review)
False Witness by Phillip Margolin
The Other Side of Now by Paige Harbison (5 stars-audiobook)
Lowdown Road by Scott Von Doviak (CE review)
Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry
The Arrangement by Kiersten Modglin (audiobook)
Her Cold Justice by Robert Dugoni
Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing (5 stars-audiobook)
The Proving Ground by Michael Connelly (5 stars)
Vera Wong’s Guide to Snooping by Jesse Q Sutanto (audiobook)
The River is Waiting by Wally Lamb (audiobook)
Two Audiobooks Mini-Reviews by Freida McFadden
The Housemaid’s Secret
The Boyfriend

Favorite Book of the Month

This is a tough one as I believe I set a record at three books with five stars in August, only one of those by a favorite author, the other two being new to me. I love Michael Connelly’s books, but really, have to give the nod this month to Alfred Lansing and his book Endurance. I’ve set the CE to reading Mark Twain by Ron Chernow. If you know anything about that masterful historical writer, you know his books are seldom under 700 pages. The CE will be reading it for awhile. (evil grin)

Favorite for August – Endurance by Alfred Lansing

My Reading Challenges page…I’m behind again and doubt I’ll catch up in September as we will be taking a short vacation.

The Goodreads landing page shows 132 of a goal of 150 or 88%. I suspect I’m doing well in the audiobook challenge as well, but can’t vouch for the NetGalley goal. May have to reassess those goals.

As always, it’s your visits and comments that keep me going and I appreciate them all. Kids are back in school (they don’t wait for Labor Day around here) and now’s the time we enjoy a short trip.

The Proving Ground: A Lincoln Lawyer Novel by Michael Connelly #BookReview #LegalThrillers

Lincoln Lawyer Book 8

Rosepoint Rating: Five Stars

Book Blurb:

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Michael Connelly, the Lincoln Lawyer is back with a case against an AI company whose product may have been responsible for the murder of a young girl.

Following his “resurrection walk” and need for a new direction, Mickey Haller turns to public interest litigation, filing a civil lawsuit against an artificial intelligence company whose chatbot told a sixteen-year-old boy that it was okay for him to kill his ex-girlfriend for her disloyalty.

Representing the victim’s family, Mickey’s case explores the mostly unregulated and exploding AI business and the lack of training guardrails. Along the way he joins up with a journalist named Jack McEvoy, who wants to be a fly on the wall during the trial in order to write a book about it. But Mickey puts him to work going through the mountain of printed discovery materials in the case. McEvoy’s digging ultimate delivers the key witness, a whistleblower who has been too afraid to speak up. The case is fraught with danger because billions are at stake.

It is said that machines became smarter than humans on the day in 1997 that IBM’s Deep Blue defeated chess master Garry Kasparov with a gambit called “the knight’s sacrifice.” Haller will take a similar gambit in court to defeat the mega forces of the AI industry lined up against him and his clients.

My Review:

Does it get much better than the Lincoln Lawyer? I love these books and devour any new installment that comes up in print, digital, or Netflix.

Even better, this one tackles AI, a current hot topic, a novel that grapples with so many moral questions over the legal. Haven’t we been talking about our children watching violent cartoons? Now with computer games the kids of eight years up are playing, do we have any clue what kind of intelligence they are dealing with?

AI generated by Gemini

What about the mind of a sixteen year old? Who has written the code for the chatbot he calls Wren? And who is to blame when that sixteen year old violently acts on a suggestion from Wren?

I love the character of Haller. He has left criminal law for civil. The narrative examines in detail the question: who is ultimately responsible for games coded with possible explosive code? We’ve all heard of GIGO. Garbage in, garbage out, “bad programming, programming contradictory to the purpose of the app?”

The Proving Ground by Michael Connelly — Lincoln Lawyer cover-US

That is the supposition of this extremely complex legal thriller. The storyline boils over with tension, almost from the beginning. All your favorite Haller characters are included, though I never warmed up to a new character who provided deep intel on AI while gathering journalistic juice. A layered plot from main to sub, each adding depth, creating a fully rounded story from professional to personal, those of his family and close associates.

I love the way the writer mentions or includes characters, including Harry Bosch, from his other series in his current narrative, consolidating the Haller world. In his world, he is up against a multi-billion dollar corporation, and he’ll have his work cut out for him.

He has his flaws but he brings an intelligence to the legal science of law that is downright compelling. He has wit, energy, and charisma you can’t beat. And, by the way, I enjoyed the author’s little humorous zinger by naming the judge in the case, Judge Ruhlin. RUHLIN? Funny, Mr. Connelly.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with the opportunity to read and review this book. The thoughts expressed here are my own.

PS: No AI was used in writing this review. (Or perhaps that’s obvious. )

Book Details:

Genre: Police Procedurals, Legal Thrillers, Murder Thrillers
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
ISBN: 978-0316563840
ASIN: B0DZ24GYPN
Print Length: 400 pages
Publication Date:
Source: Publisher and NetGalley

Title Link(s):

Amazon-US | Amazon-UK | Barnes & Noble | Kobo

The Author: Michael Connelly is the bestselling author of more than forty novels and one work of nonfiction. With over eighty-nine million copies of his books sold worldwide and translated into forty-five foreign languages, he is one of the most successful writers working today. A former newspaper reporter who worked the crime beat at the Los Angeles Times and the Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel, Connelly has won numerous awards for his journalism and his fiction. His very first novel, The Black Echo, won the prestigious Mystery Writers of America Edgar Award for Best First Novel in 1992. In 2002, Clint Eastwood directed and starred in the movie adaptation of Connelly’s 1998 novel, Blood Work. In March 2011, the movie adaptation of his #1 bestselling novel, The Lincoln Lawyer, hit theaters worldwide starring Matthew McConaughey as Mickey Haller. His most recent New York Times bestsellers include The Waiting (2024), Resurrection Walk (2023), Desert Star (2022), The Dark Hours (2021), The Law Of Innocence (2020), Fair Warning (2020), and The Night Fire (2019). Michael is the executive producer of Bosch and Bosch: Legacy, Amazon Studios original drama series based on his bestselling character Harry Bosch, starring Titus Welliver and streaming on Amazon Prime/Amazon Freevee. He is the executive producer of The Lincoln Lawyer, streaming on Netflix, starring Manuel Garcia-Rulfo. He is also the executive producer of the documentary films, “Sound Of Redemption: The Frank Morgan Story’ and ‘Tales Of the American.’ He spends his time in California and Florida.

#TuesdayBookBlog

4 Bestseller Publication Lists—Will You Use One to Find Your Next Book Purchase?

It’s been awhile since I discussed bestseller lists. The last, “NYT Bestsellers and Bestselling Authors – Literary Genius or Luck?” concentrated more on how they actually got on that list. I’ll wager it was a great deal more complex than you’d ever imagined, especially given that the status on the list can be kept or lost week to week or even day to day.

I recently read and reviewed another (“instant #1) NYTimes bestseller that hit the Amazon Charts at #9 and was a Reese’s Book Club Pick. (Is it just me or does she pick some duds?) Obviously, I’m well out of the loop. I didn’t care for it. NYTimes bestseller doesn’t necessarily equate a good book. Well, then, who do you trust?

There is no one standard for judging bestsellers as each has a different method of counting sales, or in the instance of the NYTimes—curating the list(? It’s up to the editor).

So, I got to thinking about a few of the other reviews of that book. There were those who agreed with me. Then I got to thinking about the big publishers who print those lists. There used to be five considered to wield the most weight with their bestseller lists. Then The Wall Street Journal dropped out in November, 2023.

Now we look to the big four:

NYTimes
USA Today
Publishers Weekly
Amazon Charts

New York Times

Probably the most prominent and the one I discussed previously at length is the New York Times bestsellers list. They’ve published that list since 1931. The NYTimes usually tracks book sales from various sources including national and independent bookstores that includes Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble. Both the NYTimes and USA Today look for sales totaling a minimum of 5,000 copies in a single week and is across diverse retailers AND multiple geographic locations. However, the list is a curated list (not necessarily a list of the top sellers) as the editors pick which of those bestselling books to include on the list. (They may include both wholesale and retail sales.) Their system of analyzing sales data is secret.

Does it seem like there are so many more NYTimes bestselling authors these days? Does every other book gain the title of bestseller? Maybe there are a greater number of new bestsellers along with the older ones.

For one thing, there are upwards of eleven categories now of bestsellers (with 20 or so titles per sublist). And two, publishers have cultivated gaming techniques meant to kick sales (engineered sales on launch week)—if even for one week—the title will stick.

What are the eleven bestseller lists?

Fiction:

Combined Print & E-book Fiction
Hardcover Fiction
Paperback Trade Fiction

Nonfiction:

Combined Print & E-book Fiction
Hardcover Nonfiction
Paperback Nonfiction
Advice, How-to & Miscellaneous

Children’s:

Middle Grade Hardcover
Young Adult Hardcover
Picture Books

Good grief! Eleven categories, ten titles per list(?)—that’s a lot of books and authors. But wait, there seems to be a lot of difference between sources regarding the actual number of titles per list. Things are getting dizzying and perhaps well beyond the capacity of this blogger. Gees, I thought I had a simple question:

What are the chances of an author landing on the NYTimes bestsellers list? That seems to stump most web sources I viewed. Anywhere from 0.00208% (1 in 48,000) to 0.08%?

USA Today

There are actually 150 bestselling books published on USATODAY.COM on Wednesdays and the top 50 books in print on Thursdays. USA Today publishes (according to AI Overview) a few key requirements: They typically produce a weekly list that ranks top-selling books across multiple sales platforms and sales must be from retailers in the US.

Minimum prices at $.99 or higher and reported from Monday to Sunday.

Other Considerations:

Tuesday releases

Book is available through various platforms; i.e., Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo…

Strong social media presence

Stacked promos

iBooks and Nook won’t report numbers until at least 500 US sales have been made in the week.

Publisher support, and strategic marketing campaigns (i.e., BookBub ads or Featured Deals) as well as pre-order period can increase the author’s chances.)

As noted above, they look for combined sales of 5-9,000 within a single week. (Sales in the US only.) That can fluctuate based on the number of new releases each week and KDP titles are not eligible.

Lends some legitimacy to adding the title on the book covers, huh? And yes, even if you’re only on the list for a week once, you can still claim that label for life. A more attainable goal, but still sadly at estimates of 0.1%

Publishers Weekly

As with the first two lists, this trade publication gathers sales data from a range of retailers and must be able to track a high sales volume (5,000 to 10,000) across various reporting channels during the track week. However, they primarily focus on books from traditional publishers but will consider self-published authors via BookLife. (They rely heavily on data from NPD BookScan (previously Nielsen BookScan, then merged in 2023 and renamed Circana BookScan), which covers around 85% of US print book sales.) Again, sales would include online and physical stores.

Additional Considerations:

Publishers Weekly will accept requests for a book review consideration using their Galley Tracker platform. (As of March 24, 2025, PW charges $25 for every book submitted for consideration.)

They will want both a digital galley as well as two physical galleys for review.

Submission for the book to be reviewed should be provided well prior to the proposed publication date, preferably three to four months.

And they will look for both a strong media presence and marketing strategy.

No, no online guess was found for the percentage of chance to attain their bestseller list.

Amazon.com

Amazon, the dominant online retailer, creates its bestseller lists based on sales that are updated hourly. They have a weekly bestseller list they call Amazon Charts. (Of course, you’ll still see “bestseller” or “bestselling author”.) There are campaigns that can take advantage of adjustments to boost the book, albeit temporarily, for better rankings. Even the weight and price of a book can affect it’s position since Amazon favors hardcover books whereas The New York Times does better with mass market paperbacks.

Amazon tracks all types of books from print to digital and audio and the list is posted every Wednesday.

As with the first three noted above, most of the criteria remains the same with the exception that Amazon looks for thousands of book sales within a 24-hour period. You knew that though, huh. WHOA! That means, of course, that in some niche categories, the number of sales needed to reach #1 can be lower, depending on how you’ve chosen your category. I got a chuckle out of that one, as I’ve seen some new and wildly interesting category names recently. (Bangsian Fantasy, Cli-Fi, Epistolary—yeah, I think I’ve read one of those recently.)

And, always of interest, Amazon Charts also ranks books by the average number of daily Kindle readers and Audible listeners.

Not likely we’ll ever see a percentage of chance to land on their Charts lists. Still, AI Overview notes that an author’s chances of landing on their bestsellers lists at 1 in 100,000 depending on the category.

Since some lists are compiled using Bookscan (a reporting system from book retailers) and some don’t (i.e. Amazon), how can you get a true list of bestselling books? You definitely can’t gauge one you’ll like by their sales and I’m less inclined to believe a 5 star Amazon review over a 4 star Goodreads review.

Do you actually use one of those lists to track your reading requests or purchases? I don’t think I ever have, but I do lean very heavily on Goodreads; their Choice awards, recommendations, and new releases, not to mention all your own suggestions and reviews.

Have a great week!

In addition to those links noted above, I picked up a lot of info from AI Overview and Wikipedia.

Great Big Beautiful Life: Reese’s Book Club by Emily Henry #BookReview #TuesdayBookBlog

Amazon Charts #9 this week

Book Blurb:

A REESE’S BOOK CLUB PICK ∙ AN INSTANT #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER ∙ Two writers compete for the chance to tell the larger-than-life story of a woman with more than a couple of plot twists up her sleeve in this dazzling and sweeping novel from Emily Henry.

As featured in The New York Times ∙ Rolling Stone ∙ People ∙ Good Morning America ∙ NPR ∙ Vogue ∙ The Cut ∙ USA Today ∙ Cosmopolitan ∙ Harper’s Bazaar ∙ Marie Claire ∙ Glamour ∙ ELLE ∙ E! Online ∙ The New York Post ∙ Bustle ∙ Reader’s Digest ∙ BBC ∙ PopSugar ∙ SheReads ∙ Paste ∙ and more!

Alice Scott is an eternal optimist still dreaming of her big writing break. Hayden Anderson is a Pulitzer-prize winning human thundercloud. And they’re both on balmy Little Crescent Island for the same reason: to write the biography of a woman no one has seen in years—or at least to meet with the octogenarian who claims to be the Margaret Ives. Tragic heiress, former tabloid princess, and daughter of one of the most storied (and scandalous) families of the twentieth century.

When Margaret invites them both for a one-month trial period, after which she’ll choose the person who’ll tell her story, there are three things keeping Alice’s head in the game.

One: Alice genuinely likes people, which means people usually like Alice—and she has a whole month to win the legendary woman over.

Two: She’s ready for this job and the chance to impress her perennially unimpressed family with a Serious Publication.

Three: Hayden Anderson, who should have no reason to be concerned about losing this book, is glowering at her in a shaken-to-the core way that suggests he sees her as competition.

But the problem is, Margaret is only giving each of them pieces of her story. Pieces they can’t swap to put together because of an ironclad NDA and an inconvenient yearning pulsing between them every time they’re in the same room.

And it’s becoming abundantly clear that their story—just like the tale Margaret’s spinning—could be a mystery, tragedy, or love ballad . . . depending on who’s telling it.

My Review:

Why, oh why, do I get sucked in on what looks promising and a Reese’s Book Club pick to boot? I really need to research more before borrowing a book on a waiting list from the library.

So, did I learn nothing from Funny Story? Or in a hurry, remembered the author’s name and hopped on the list. And what happened with Funny Story? A Goodreads Choice Award winner for Readers’ Favorite Romance (2024). Yeah, I don’t do RomComs, but didn’t consider Great Big Beautiful Life one either. Surely, this one won’t follow the Funny Story path…please.

Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry — Great Big Beautiful Life-US cover

It’s an old trope, predictable. And slow burn? Oh, honey, the first part almost had me giving up waiting for something to spark. The second part went swiftly from hate to love and between the sheets before I could even check for bed bugs. As each got more graphic, I was forced to skip read.

The FMC is all sunshine, optimism, and a chronically happy girl while hiding an unhappy childhood and a critical mother. She’s a journalist. She coulda been a contender—or something–somewhere else.

The MMC is a grump (sound familiar?). I don’t care how gorgeous he is; I wouldn’t have gotten past the first crotchety word. If he’s a world-famous author, what is she doing there anyway?

The plot with the reclusive Margaret pitting them against each other is okay, except it starts back when her ancestors emerged from a communal cave. I guess you have to have something to throw in some interest, and I can’t fault the author for her prose, sense of humor, or clichés that run rampant.

“Because even the doorknobs here are buttered,”…

The description of the locale is interesting, always gives me pangs I no longer have access to a coast, left or right. The mansion, castle, grounds where Margaret lives are amazing and I wonder if her residuals really paid for all of that. Also I learned a new word:

Unicursal. One beginning, one end. Used in this context as a meandering pathway.

It doesn’t make sense that Hayden and Alice could have any chemistry between them. Is she really that desperate? As they continue their interviews, they manage an ah ha moment or two but still swear Margaret is hiding something. Does anyone care?

Lots of pillow talk heart-to-hearts with both divulging big secrets. There’s a kind of anti-climax that eventually turns into the last twist. (Thank heaven.) But still doesn’t make sense to me. It leaves me wanting to knock their heads together.

I did enjoy some of the writing style, but nix on the biographer study or romcom. Many thanks to my library for providing me with the opportunity to read and review this book. The thoughts expressed here are my own.

Rosepoint Rating: Three Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Contemporary Women’s Fiction, Romantic Comedy
Publisher: Berkley
ISBN: 978-0593441244
ASIN: B0DGCLB3X3
Print Length: 427 pages
Publication Date: April 22, 2025
Source: Local Library

Title Link(s):

Amazon-US | Amazon-UK | Barnes & Noble | Kobo

The Author: Emily Henry is the #1 New York Times and #1 Sunday Times bestselling author of Happy Place, Book Lovers, People We Meet on Vacation, and Beach Read. She studied creative writing at Hope College, and now spends most of her time in Cincinnati, Ohio, and the part of Kentucky just beneath it. Find her on Instagram @EmilyHenryWrites.

4 Bestseller Pubs — *Wall Street Journal stopped publishing bestseller lists in Nov 2023.

Rosepoint Reviews – July Recap – #Audiobooks #Biographies #LiteraryFiction #HistoricalFiction

Rosepoint Reviews - July Recap

July was indeed a record-setting month for temps around here and apparently for most of you as well. You can always tell a dip in temperatures by the number of people scampering outside to catch up on yard work. No exception here, with mowing, weeding, and harvesting ripening veggies. Apparently a banner year for cucumbers; they’ve overgrown the melons. A decent year for tomatoes though, they do like it hot.

My experiment with the lotus seeds pretty much got taken over with the other invasive water plant I put in the tub and the other one won. My best crop may still end up being mosquitoes. Still with the number of cucumbers ripening, there is no shortage of the stuff for making juice, which is actually quite tasty. And with the number of cherry tomatoes, perhaps we can try drying them again—little nuggets of tomato candy.

Still doing our Y classes three times a week. Those giant blue exercise balls are the new drums, and we are beating those drums to some great 50s-60s music. Fun classes and a great way to get out and move!

We reviewed fifteen books in July—still trying to catch up with audiobooks I’ve listened to. The source of our books is our library, NetGalley, author and publisher requests. As always, the links on titles are to our reviews that include purchase information.

Don’t Open the Door by Allison Brennan (audiobook)
Silent Creek by Tony Wirt (CE review)
Random Run: The Boston Clairvoyants by Annabelle Lewis
Red Shadows at Saugatuck by Randy Overbeck (CE review)
Beartown by Fredrik Backman (audiobook for book club)

Audiobooks Mini-Reviews
Lloyd McNeil’s Last Ride by Will Leitch
Our Last Wild Days by Anna Bailey
Hell is Empty and Return to Sender by Craig Johnson

The Promise of Unbroken Straw by Ken Steele (CE review)
Good Days Bad Days by Emily Bleeker
A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson (audiobook)
Only Way Out by Tod Goldberg (CE review)
The River’s Daughter by Bridget Crocker
Bits and Pieces: My Mother, My Brother, and Me by Whoopi Goldberg (audiobook)

Favorite Book of the Month

Maybe it’s not fair, maybe she had help with writing, I don’t know. But it’s an emotional, heartfelt tribute to her mother. I enjoyed the whole thing.

Favorite for July – Bits and Pieces by Whoopi Goldberg

My Reading Challenges page…behind again. I need a day—one whole day just to work on the blog. Uninterrupted.

The Goodreads landing page shows 114 of a goal of 150 or 76%, but the book count widget is still way off. Any way to get that corrected?

I do appreciate your visits and I love your comments! Enjoy the last month of summer—soon the kiddies will be returning to school! (Yeah, already.)

A little light summer reading.

Rosepoint Reviews – June Recap – Toasty Temps – Cool Books

Progress came to a screeching halt with spring cleaning. Now with sizzling summer temps, little progress outside, and air conditioning inside, none to zip inside. Windows are a biggee, inside and out, but it’s too hot to contemplate doing windows in 97 degree temps with “feel like” temps of 105 F. Closets, cupboards, still beckon but at least it was hot enough to clean rugs and have them dry enough to walk on within a half a day.

Also, despite all the prep and barricades surrounding my veggies, the varmints found a way to eat the beans and peas, and most anything else I was hoping to harvest by July. I am, however, raising a bountiful crop of mosquitoes in the little water tub for the lotus seeds I planted and coaxed to the surface. The lotus seeds need six hours of sun and don’t get that on the deck but appear quite happy for the time being.

I’m thinking at this point if the critters won’t eat my tomatoes or radishes, maybe that’s all I can count on in my veggie garden. I may rip it out and put in a water feature—transplant my lotus plants. Maybe I could grow frogs.

Of course, we are still going to the Y three times a week, greatly enjoying the classes, meeting other seniors, and discovering muscles we forgot we had. We added another class for the current challenge, ending in August.

My “boys,” the CE and our son, celebrated birthdays the end of June. Upcoming doctor visits are beginning to take an additional toll on time with each birthday though, a reminder that time marches on…and on…

We reviewed sixteen books in June—trying to catch up with the books read during the May hiatus. (I’m still not entirely caught up.) The book up for review in July at the Y Book Club is Beartown, of which I’m familiar, of course, but will have to get the book and familiarize myself with salient points. I had a difficult time with it first time through.

The source of our books is our library, NetGalley, and author and publisher requests. As always, the links on titles are to our reviews that include purchase information.

#RosepointPublishing #JuneRecap

Famous Last Words by Gillian McAllister
Blackout by David Rosenfelt (audiobook)

Mini-reviews

Dogged Pursuit by David Rosenfelt (CE review)

Fatal Verdict by Peter O’Mahoney (CE review)

Smoke on the Water by Jack Bartley (CE review)

What We Left Behind by Luisa A Jones (CE review)

Finlay Donovan Digs Her Own Grave by Elle Cosimano (audiobook)
One in a Million Boy by Monica Wood (audiobook-book club)
Body of Evidence by Stephen Penner (CE review)
A Body at the Book Fair by Ellie Alexander
The Midwife of Hope River by Patricia Harman (audiobook)
How to Hotwire an Airplane by Henry Rausch (buddy read with the CE)
Folded Corners by Jean Grainger

Audiobooks Mini-Reviews

Never Lie by Freida McFadden (audiobook)

Women of War by Suzanne Cope (audiobook)

The Last Conclave by Glenn Cooper (CE review)

Favorite Book of the Month

The CE had more than one five-star review in June. He really loved Smoke on the Water and The Last Conclave, but we both loved How to Hotwire an Airplane.

Favorite for June – How to Hotwire an Airplane

My Reading Challenges page…caught up with May and June but dismayed at the numbers.

The Goodreads landing page may be correct at 94 for a goal of 150 or 63%, but the book count widget is still well off, leading me to believe that even when I reach my goal of 150, it won’t register the win. Otherwise, I appear to be behind in all my challenges except Goodreads.

I hope you found a book or two listed above that appealed to you and I always appreciate your comments. Most especially if you have reading suggestions! Have a warm but safe July!

Rosepoint Reviews – May Recap – June? Wait, I’m not ready!

Rosepoint Reviews - May Recap

If I thought I could clean up both the house and the yard in two weeks, I was sadly mistaken. Granted, I took on a lot more yard projects than I’d originally intended. (I’m one of those who’d rather work outside than in.) Clean a house, it just needs it again the next day or two. Fix up a veggie, flower bed, or fairy garden and it’s something you can enjoy for…maybe the whole summer?

I got my veggie garden all set, hopefully protected from bunnies, possums, and deer. Right now it’s looking a little rough with bird netting and chicken wire around everything, but give it a month. I’ve been cleaning up and doing some redesign in the fairy garden. Really wanted a little all-weather bench down there, but haven’t seen anything affordable so I decided to “make” a bench from the downed trees.

Trying to install a water barrel for the veggie bed, but can’t find proper fittings. The projects I bestowed on the CE are languishing in their original shipping boxes. Had hoped to have at least the kitchen ceiling fan light up in time for the escalating temps set to hit us next week. So, yes, will need more time, hopefully, to get to the house and those clean-up projects.

Flower bed

And it doesn’t help that we are trying to do the Y three times a week. The classes are only 45 minutes but with travel and then lunch and clean up, it ends up a good portion of the day, not to say that the classes don’t wear us out. Now they’ve added a summer challenge which we are going to try—adding one more class–yoga.

Yeah, I know—gluttons for punishment, huh?!

We did manage eight reviews along with a couple topical posts in May, and I’m mildly surprised it was that many with everything going on. The CE provided two and I managed four audiobooks (one for my new book club at the Y). I enjoyed two new authors and will be looking for more from both Alex Kava and Archer Sullivan. With those names, what are the odds they are women authors? (Apparently pretty good as both are.)

I source our books through the library, NetGalley, and author and publisher requests. As always, the links on titles are to our reviews that include purchase information.

Rosepoint Reviews - May Recap

Parents Weekend by Alex Finlay (CE review)
Sincerely, Grace by Jean Grainger
Silent Creed and Reckless Creed by Alex Kava (audiobooks)
Once Upon a River by Bonnie Jo Campbell (bookclubs) (audiobook)
Nightshade by Michael Connelly (CE review)
The Witch’s Orchard by Archer Sullivan
One False Move by Alex Kava (audiobook)

Favorite Book of the Month

The five-star review in May goes to Michael Connelly for Nightshade, reviewed by the CE. Hard to beat Connelly and I thoroughly enjoyed the latest in the Knocknashee series by Jean Grainger for her atmospheric and gripping Irish tales.

Favorite for May – Nightshade by Michael Connelly

My Reading Challenges page…having caught up through April, now one month behind.

The Goodreads landing page may be correct at 77 of a goal of 150 or 51%, but the book count widget is still off at 62—worse than before. Right now, I’m too busy and tired to work on that too. Maybe later.

Love my new subscribers! I hope you found a book or two that appealed to you and I always appreciate your comments! Have a warm, but wonderful June!

A little light summer reading.

Graphic courtesy Freepik

It’s National Rescue Dog Day—and Our Rescue With Her Brief Story #dogrescues #pomrescue

I gasped when the CE perked up and said, “Yes! I want to see her!”

The lady at the rescue said the only other dog she had that would meet our criteria was a Pomeranian. What??

I had steadfastly maintained that after the loss of Frosty, I couldn’t go through that again.

As you’ll remember, Frosty was our seventeen-year-old Bichon Frise who crossed the Rainbow Bridge in January 2023. By September, I missed all those precious little Frosty doggy sights and sounds so much, I had to fill the void.

I couldn’t have another Bichon. That would not be fair to a new one and would hurt too much. The CE was a bit reluctant, but I showed him a number of possibles—small, mature, short-haired females, mixed breed. Most of the little girls I looked at, however, were spoken for immediately upon listing. One lady in Texas told me frankly that the cute little female (JR mix) I was interested in would not work for us (as old and mature as we are) as “she has no off button.” Uh oh…she might be right.

So when we finally passed all the applications, terms, and acceptable prices (they aren’t free), was disappointed to see that the dog still available to see not only had no interest in us, but clung heavily to her foster dad. She’d bonded already–maybe what others saw as well(?).

The lady from the shelter brought out a Pom alright. She was stiff with fright, wild-eyed, and so messy the lady said if we wanted her she’d bathe her first. (Then sent us off with a shivering wet dog wrapped in a towel.)

You may know the rest if you followed a few of my updates in the monthly review recaps, beginning in October 2023, with a follow up in November.

She shut down completely after we brought her home. She was 2 ½ days stirring from her kennel. The rescue could (or would) not give us any history other than that she was 4 ½ years old, had been a breeder. It quickly became obvious she’d never lived in a home before, had any training, or clue what toys or treats were. Never been walked. The rescue did a vet check and spay. (She still freezes stiff when picked up.)

Our first experience with a rescue dog, we are now beginning to realize that actually we were pretty lucky. Some of these animals are so traumatized it takes years to trust again and we have made great strides.

I recently finished several books from the Ryder Creed series by Alex Kava whose main characters are rescue dogs that have been trained as service animals. The protagonist discovered the special attribute each dog possesses and uses that ability to solve the mixed plots. It’s a fun series!

National Rescue Dog Day hopes to “bring awareness to the countless number of amazing dogs in shelters…who deserve a second chance…” Founded in 2018 by Lisa Wiehebrink who rescued Cooper from a LA shelter in 2009, she realized the need for attention. Abandoned, abused, owner moved, too much puppy or got too old. Few shelters are “no kill.” And there are so many dogs each looking for a furever home.

It’s amazing the number of ways canines can provide valuable services to their humans. Despite the challenges we faced with Punkin, she is blooming into a real dog with some major personality. It’s encouraging to watch the transition from terrified little dog to one who is patiently teaching us (although her patience sometimes wanes into frustrated little yips). Yeah, she has provided chuckles and astonished glances and watching her grow and change has been so gratifying.

And she is sweet. Such a sweet little thing.

Punkin the pom--running