Fifteen-year-old foster child Josh Redford’s only friend in the world was an old Algonquin trapper who taught him the secrets of the wilderness. When the trapper dies, Josh runs away to a remote area of the rugged Laurentian Mountains, where he soon discovers that the trapper’s tales of animal spirits are true, and that not all of them are friendly. Caught in an ancient war between good and evil, Josh’s escape from grief quickly becomes a harrowing struggle to survive. Desperate and alone, he soon discovers the one secret the trapper never revealed.
Valley of the Wolves is a four-book series full of action and adventure that is rooted in Algonquin mythology. It is also the story of how colonialism nearly destroyed a beautiful people and their culture.
His Review:
Moving from group home to foster home wore heavily on Josh. His heart yearned to be free and away from adult guidance. Certainly, many of the homes were nice but they were not his family and he never seemed to fit in. He longed to be free and disappear in the Laurentian mountains of his ancestors. His only true friend is a dying Algonquin who is teaching him the old ways.
He is very proficient with a canoe and escapes on a foggy night and heads downstream. He will cross into Canada and leave the Foster Child Systems behind. His Indian name is Crazy Otter given to him by Stumbling Moose who tries to teach him the old ways. He knows that the officials will be looking for him and will put him in a juvenile detention facility until he is of age if he is caught. He stays in the darkest parts of the forest and continues northeast towards Canada.
As a child, I often thought of running away and making my own way heading north to Canada. Josh is much smarter because he read all of the books he could find on wilderness survival and how to exist in the wild. Building traps and foraging for edible foods and tubers, he could teach military survival. The further he melts into the wild, however, the more he becomes the hunted instead of the hunter. This is a great book for young scouts and others to read. 4.5 stars – CE Williams
The first book in a new series that launches an enterprising and magnetic main character and is a great start to the series. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with the opportunity to read and review this book. Any opinion expressed here is my own.
Rosepoint Publishing:Four point Five Stars
Book Details:
Genre: Teen & Young Adult Historical Fantasy eBooks, Teen & Young Adult Coming of Age Fiction eBooks ASIN: B0DLGM9F21 Print Length: 179 pages Publication Date: November 19, 2024 Source: Author and NetGalley Title Link(s): Valley of the Wolves – Amazon-US Valley of the Wolves– Amazon-UK
The Author:Brock Farrow is an avid outdoorsman and survivalist with a deep love for the Laurentian Mountains. He holds a profound respect for Canada’s Indigenous peoples, especially the original inhabitants of the Laurentians—the Algonquin Nation. He believes that they have much to teach us about our relationship with the planet and each other. The Valley of the Wolves series is his first attempt to share his knowledge and admiration with others.
Nominee for Readers’ Favorite Audiobook-2024 Nominee for Readers’ Favorite Memoir-2024
Book Blurb:
#1 NATIONAL BESTSELLER NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER OPRAH’S BOOK CLUB PICK Born to an American myth and raised in the wilds of Graceland, Lisa Marie Presley tells her whole story for the first time in this raw, riveting, one-of-a-kind memoir faithfully completed by her daughter, Riley Keough.
A PEOPLE BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR
In 2022, Lisa Marie Presley asked her daughter to help finally finish her long-gestating memoir.
A month later, Lisa Marie was dead, and the world would never know her story in her own words, never know the passionate, joyful, caring, and complicated woman that Riley loved and now grieved.
Riley got the tapes that her mother had recorded for the book, lay in her bed, and listened as Lisa Marie told story after story about smashing golf carts together in the yards of Graceland, about the unconditional love she felt from her father, about being upstairs, just the two of them. About getting dragged screaming out of the bathroom as she ran toward his body on the floor. About living in Los Angeles with her mother, getting sent to school after school, always kicked out, always in trouble. About her singular, lifelong relationship with Danny Keough, about being married to Michael Jackson, what they had in common. About motherhood. About deep addiction. About ever-present grief. Riley knew she had to fulfill her mother’s wish to reveal these memories, incandescent and painful, to the world.
To make her mother known.
This extraordinary book is written in both Lisa Marie’s and Riley’s voices, a mother and daughter communicating—from this world to the one beyond—as they try to heal each other. Profoundly moving and deeply revealing, From Here to the Great Unknown is a book like no other—the last words of the only child of an American icon.
My Review:
Once again, confirmation that fame and fortune can be tragic. I do appreciate that we had Riley’s voice of calm reason and reflection to add to the tale and, of course, Julia Roberts (yes, Julia Roberts) narrates Lisa Marie’s portion of the audiobook. There were intermittent bursts of taped narrative by Lisa Marie as she attempted to recall and write her memoir. Unfortunately, for the most part, I was unable to understand them.
Of course Lisa Marie was Priscilla’s daughter and the only Elvis offspring. I greatly enjoyed the memories of her early childhood, stories of Graceland. But Lisa Marie had little adult supervision and is allowed free rein and she uses it in her teens to begin experimentation with booze and drugs.
As an adult, Lisa Marie finds love; Danny Keough (Riley’s father), compulsiveness, and a wide range of men from Michael Jackson to Nicholas Cage. (Riley, btw, is now the sole trustee of Graceland. Riley played a credible Daisy Jones in Daisy Jones and the Six in 2023.)
Yes, there is a lot of name dropping, they certainly ran in the inner circles which only confounded Lisa Marie’s place in life even more—was she merely a shadow of her father carrying his name? Her memories of him were loving and impactful, his early death a blow from which she only gradually lived with, but not well.
Priscilla Presley is painted as a stern, hands-off mother and figures in the book probably about the same way she did in Lisa Marie’s life—almost as a footnote. Riley does a good job using her mother’s tapes and memories to fill in the blanks and does so with a loving perspective. While her mother became deeply flawed and she lost her brother largely as a result, she struggles to tell their stories truthfully. She believes this is the way it was. A fine tribute to her mother as she completed the memoir her mother left upon her death in January of 2023.
I downloaded a copy of this audiobook from my local well-stocked library. These are my honest thoughts. It’s sad, tragic, and a grim epitaph.
Rosepoint Publishing:Four Stars
Book Details:
Genre: Grief & Loss, Grief & Bereavement, Biographies of Celebrities & Entertainment Professionals Publisher:Random House Audio ASIN: B0CRSDK1Q8 Listening Length: 5 hrs 42 mins Narrator: Riley Keough, Julia Roberts Publication Date: October 8, 2024 Source: Local Library (Audiobook Selections) Title Links:Amazon-US Amazon-UK Barnes & Noble Kobo
Lisa Marie Presley was a singer and songwriter who was born in Memphis and raised at Graceland as the only child of Elvis and Priscilla Presley. She released three studio albums throughout her music career—To Whom It May Concern, Now What, and Storm & Grace, the first of which was certified gold. Lisa Marie passed away in January 2023.
Riley Keough is an Emmy, Golden Globe, and Independent Spirit Award–nominated actress. She is known for her work in Daisy Jones & the Six, Zola, and more. She also co-directed War Pony (2022), which won the Caméra d’Or for best first feature at Cannes, and cofounded the production company Felix Culpa with Gina Gammell. She is the eldest daughter of Lisa Marie Presley and sole trustee of Graceland.
“I was so moved by Lisa Marie’s incredible memoir,” Roberts tells PEOPLE, in an exclusive statement. “It was a real privilege to give voice to her wild and beautiful life and I deeply appreciate Riley entrusting me with her mother’s story.”
AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES AND USA TODAY BESTSELLER • A NEW YORK TIMES EDITORS’ PICK
NEW YORK TIMES 100 NOTABLE BOOKS OF 2024 • A LA TIMES BESTSELLER AND BEST BOOK OF THE MONTH
TIME MAGAZINE’S 100 MUST-READ BOOKS OF 2024 • KIRKUS BEST NONFICTION BOOKS OF THE YEAR
WASHINGTON POST 50 NOTABLE WORKS OF NONFICTION FOR 2024 • A PEOPLE BOOK PICK AND A BEST CELEBRITY MEMOIR OF 2024
In a sharp, witty, and definitive memoir like no other, iconic trailblazer and legendary journalist Connie Chung delves into her storied career as the first Asian woman to break into an overwhelmingly white, male-dominated television news industry.
Promo pic on Amazon page.
Connie Chung is a pioneer. In 1969 at the age of 23, this once-shy daughter of Chinese parents took her first job at a local TV station in her hometown of Washington, D.C. and soon thereafter began working at CBS news as a correspondent. Profoundly influenced by her family’s cultural traditions, yet growing up completely Americanized in the United States, Chung describes her career as an Asian woman in a white male-centered world. Overt sexism was a way of life, but Chung was tenacious in her pursuit of stories–battling rival reporters to secure scoops that ranged from interviewing Magic Johnson to covering the Watergate scandal–and quickly became a household name. She made history when she achieved her dream of being the first woman to co-anchor the CBS Evening News and the first Asian to anchor any news program in the U.S.
Chung pulls no punches as she provides a behind-the-scenes tour of her singular life. From showdowns with powerful men in and out of the newsroom to the stories behind some of her career-defining reporting and the unwavering support of her husband, Maury Povich, nothing is off-limits–good, bad, or ugly. So be sure to tune in for an irreverent and inspiring exclusive: this is CONNIE like you’ve never seen her before.
My Review:
Connie, as she did with her journalistic endeavors, tells it like it is. Sometimes warts and all. She explains her father’s position and the times her family lived under in China that was instrumental in moving her family to America and her birth here. Interesting childhood and background in Chinese traditional culture. Connie appeared driven early, fortune and timing steering her into ever-increasing opportunities but she had two large blocks to the glass ceiling: she is a girl (gasp!) and a minority.
Not just driven, but smart, she watched how the men conducted themselves and worked to emulate them. Coming from her background, she was shy and quiet. She had to learn to dump both as there were few men willing to accept women in their domain. As a rookie reporter, and a woman to boot, she was given fluff assignments when she was itching to gather real stories that made a difference.
Connie details the years with the different networks, the assignments, her accomplishments, her interviews, and the clashes with Newt Gingrich and Dan Rather. She reports what really happened and then defends her position. There were a number of occasions that recounted both sexism and racism in her dealings with the good ole boys club. The armor she wore got thicker as the years passed in the industry.
Connie Chung By Phil Konstantin- Courtesy Wikipedia
Connie also mentions the graphic story of responding many years later to her own experience with the “you too” movement as well as the men she welcomed into her life, including the long-distance relationship she formed with Maury Povich who would finally become her husband. The account of their struggle with infertility hits home; for them with the adoption of son Matthew. And I must say, her stories of Povich have me seeing him with different eyes and a great deal more respect.
After the years of crashing the glass ceiling, her storyline chills a bit and the pace slows. Still, I enjoyed hearing so much “inside” info in the news biz, knew it was cut-throat, and a battle only for the very strong. She was obviously that strong.
I borrowed the audiobook from my library and love it when the memoir is narrated by the author. So much fun to actually hear the voice behind those words and adds such depth to the book for me. These are my honest thoughts and think you’ll also enjoy.
I downloaded a copy of this audiobook from my local well-stocked library. These are my honest thoughts.
Rosepoint Publishing:Four point Five Stars
Book Details:
Genre: Biographies of Journalists, Editors & Publishers Publisher:Grand Central Publishing ASIN: B0CS3TQNW7 Listening Length: 11 hrs 35 mins Narrator: Connie Chung Publication Date: September 17, 2024 Source: Local Library (Audiobook Selections) Title Links:Connie – Amazon-US Amazon-UK Barnes & Noble Kobo
The Author: (The book is her bio.) A google search of Ms Chung gleans the following public information: Constance Yu-Hwa Chung Povich was on born August 20, 1946) and is an American journalist who was a news anchor and reporter for the major U.S. television news networks. Born the youngest of ten children and the first to be born in the US, she was named after singer and actress Constance Moore and attended Maryland schools. Chung was only the second woman and the first American of Asian descent to anchor a major nightly news program in the U.S. She has been married to talk show host Maury Povich since 1984 and in 1995 adopted a son, Matthew Jay Povich. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Connie_Chung]
“Giving to charity swells your heart with pride and joy; receiving charity crushes your soul with shame and embarrassment.”
When I got the invitation from Amy Jackson at Random House Publishing through NetGalley regarding this book and read the blurb, I thought this sounded too good to keep to myself and in turn invited the CE to read it as well. (Also, that book cover is pretty eye-catching!) Of course, I was in the middle of another book and he’d just finished his, so he jumped into this one and stayed. There were a number of LOLs and we did a buddy read. No doubt you can guess his thoughts on the novel—see below.
Book Blurb:
Award-winning comedian Zarna Garg turns her astonishing life story into a hilarious memoir, spilling all the chai on her wild ride from escaping an arranged marriage and homelessness in India to carving her own path in America and launching a dazzling second act in midlife.
Throughout Zarna’s whole childhood in India, everyone called her “so American” just for reading the newspaper, having deep thoughts, and talking back to anyone over the age of thirty. When Zarna’s dad tried to marry her off at age fourteen, Zarna fled—first to the streets of Mumbai and ultimately to the glittering paradise of Akron, Ohio, where she got to become American for real.
On Zarna’s very American quest to find herself and her calling, she threw herself wholeheartedly into roles like dog-bite lawyer, crazy perfectionist stay-at-home mom, Indian matchmaker, prizewinning screenwriter, and more. It wasn’t until a dare led her to a stand-up comedy open mic that Zarna finally found her spiritual home: getting paid cold hard cash for her big fat mouth.
And as Zarna discovered, after surviving the brutal streets of Mumbai, the cutthroat world of stand-up comedy is nothing.
This American Woman is an exuberant story of fighting for your right to determine your own destiny and triumphing beyond what you ever dreamed was possible. Zarna’s mantra becomes a call to action: It’s never too late. If Zarna can do it, you can, too.
My Review:
Absolutely no doubt this woman has a wild and wicked, often profane sense of humor. Given her history, it may be the only thing keeping her sane as she grappled with an insane drive she could not fulfill. That and the most loving and supportive brother she could have prayed for.
I loved the story of her early childhood, her place in the fairly well-to-do family, and the description of life as a privileged youngster up until the day her birth mother died.
“When you lose a parent, you lose your childhood.”
When her dad married again, rather quickly, he wanted his freedom. Zarna was shocked to discover just how serious he was. (Well, it’s interesting to see men really aren’t very different from country to country.)
At fourteen, and with all the guile of a young teen, she knew marriage to someone, kids, the end of an education, and a life of servitude was not what she had in mind. So split she did. Of course, that didn’t turn out as she’d expected. Returning home, her father began the process of finding her a husband, even going through the process of meeting the groom and his family. Marriage plans were being made, a wedding that would last for days.
When she was finally granted the Visa and quietly worked out the airfare to America to join her sister and her American husband, she fled. It wasn’t easy, but amazing how hard she worked at everything, tried everything, including her newly discovered stand-up ability. None of this happened overnight or easily.
Yes, she does find a husband and they have three children. Throughout the story, there are observations relayed by her keen sense of humor and delivered with a quick wit and sharp mouth.
“My family is Gujarati, observant vegetarians, while Shalabh’s family is from Uttar Pradesh, the Alabama of India.”
“Any woman anywhere can wear the bindi. But married women tend to wear it more because when they wake up the day after the marriage they should know where to aim the gun.”
The story is engaging, hard to put down, filled with anecdotes from funny to hilarious. Comments about life in India, comments about life in America, comparisons of the two, along with some hardcore facts. Yes, there are more than a few barbs, bound to be, I suppose. But let’s face it, she is one in a billion.
India population as of January 2024 is estimated at 1.44 billion. (AI overview) (Population density approx. 488 people per square kilometer.)
USA population as of July 1, 2024 – 340,110.988. (AI overview)(Population density in 2022 approx. 36.43 people per square kilometer.)
This book releases the end of April. Needing a little comedy? This one will brighten your day and leave you with a smile on your face.
Rosepoint Rating: Four point Five Stars
His Review:
A domineering father who has decided that at age 14, Zarna should be married and launches on the quest to find her a husband. Zarna decides there is no way she will marry against her will and leaves her well-to-do home. Zarna begins by trying to stay with her many friends from school.
The problem is that she finds out that her welcome is overstayed very quickly and she is out on the streets again. There she learns what life is like for the many destitute people in India. The streets of Mumbai teach her many ways to get by but without money, she is trapped in poverty.
One of her best traits and biggest downfalls is her smart mouth. She refuses to cave to the continued attempted control of her father. Finally, she must return home or possibly die on the streets. Her father never capitulates and the end result is two hard heads unwilling to yield. She goes back with her tail between her legs and submits to husband interviews. Starving is simply not an option.
She has a married sister in America willing to sponsor her and help get her a Visa. Fortunately, this finally comes through just in time and she flees to the states.
She perfects her sense of humor and sets out to be a comic at local venues. At first, she begs to have people come to see her show. Many nights the theater is empty. If there are only a few persons in her audience, she goes through her act. Soon people begin to talk about this funny comedian from the streets and theaters begin to fill. She continues to write her dialogues spending many hours per day perfecting her act between shows. This book has many good belly laughs as you read about her trials and tribulations. Enjoy! 5 stars – CE Williams
Rosepoint Rating: Five Stars
Book Details:
Genre: Biographies of Comedians, Biographies & Memoirs of Women, Humor Publisher: Ballantine Books ISBN-10: 0593975022 ISBN-13: 978-0593975022 ASIN: B0DM6Z1SYQ Print Length: 320 pages Publication Date: April 29, 2025 Source: Publisher and NetGalley
The Author:Zarna Garg is a force of nature with a mic. America’s first Indian immigrant mom comedian burst onto the scene in 2023 with her first special, ‘One in a Billion’. Her follow-up special,’Practical People Win’, hits Hulu in 2025. Zarna cut her teeth opening for icons Tina Fey and Amy Poehler. Her acting debut in the indie hit ‘A Nice Indian Boy’ earned rave reviews, while her hugely popular ‘Zarna Garg Family Podcast’ explores modern family life with her husband and kids. With millions of social media followers and billions of views, Zarna just can’t stop laughing her way to the top.
Griffin Dunne’s memoir of growing up among larger-than-life characters in Hollywood and Manhattan finds wicked humor and glimmers of light in even the most painful of circumstances
At eight, Sean Connery saved him from drowning. At thirteen, desperate to hook up with Janis Joplin, he attended his aunt Joan Didion and uncle John Gregory Dunne’s legendary LA launch party for Tom Wolfe’s The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test. At sixteen, he got kicked out of boarding school, ending his institutional education for good. In his early twenties, he shared an apartment in Manhattan’s Hotel Des Artistes with his best friend and soulmate Carrie Fisher while she was filming some sci-fi movie called Star Wars and he was a struggling actor working as a popcorn concessionaire at Radio City Music Hall. A few years later, he produced and starred in the now-iconic film After Hours, directed by Martin Scorsese. In the midst of it all, Griffin’s twenty-two-year-old sister, Dominique, a rising star in Hollywood, was brutally strangled to death by her ex-boyfriend, leading to one of the most infamous public trials of the 1980s. The outcome was a travesty of justice that marked the beginning of their father Dominick Dunne’s career as a crime reporter for Vanity Fair and a victims’ rights activist.
And yet, for all its boldface cast of characters and jaw-dropping scenes, The Friday Afternoon Club is no mere celebrity memoir. It is, down to its bones, a family story that embraces the poignant absurdities and best and worst efforts of its loveable, infuriating, funny, and moving characters—its author most of all.
My Review:
Has the drama and trauma experienced by Griffin Dunne in his life been fully exposed in his memoir?
I’m torn.
Is this memoir truly a tell all, name-dropping exposé of his life, or a bid to one up his dad? I’m not sure. Griffin details a childhood full of the growth of his father’s career that led to their Hollywood experience and the introduction to a myriad list of well-known celebrities. Most of the time it felt like he was actively grabbing the coattails of one or the other of his family or his latest squeeze using everyone as a stepping stone to something bigger and better.
He discusses his aunt, author Joan Didion, and his “soulmate”Carrie Fisher (I wondered if she knew she was his soulmate and, of course, is no longer around to dispute that. I read her memoir as well and just don’t remember mention of him). Carrie did an amazing job, not just with her writing style, wit, and often sarcastic delivery, but the overall story she had to tell.
Griffin exhibits a sense of humor, but not the delivery, and his focus is different, remembering anecdotes of the many celebrities who passed through his life. He decries his father using the violent death of his sister, Dominique, as a springboard for his newly discovered writing career, but then devotes a large portion of his own book to reviewing the sensational trial of the ex-boyfriend who murdered her and the accompanying appalling loss of justice.
Dunne writes of his sexual exploits, detailing a few, while exposing his newly clean and sober closeted father. The reason for the name of the book is touched upon only briefly well into the book and I’m not sure is relevant–to the reader anyway.
I both enjoyed and found parts of his novel disturbing and I don’t think you’ll find a lot here that would be a surprise. I downloaded a copy of this audiobook from my local well-stocked library. These are my honest thoughts.
Rosepoint Publishing:Four Stars
Book Details:
Genre: Biographies of Authors, Author Biographies, Biographies of Celebrities & Entertainment Professionals Publisher:Penguin Audio ASIN: B0CQKJBPXQ Listening Length: 12 hrs 19 mins Narrator: Griffin Dunne Publication Date: June 11, 2024 Source: Local Library (Audiobook Selections)
The Author:Griffin Dunne has been an actor, producer, and director since the late 1970s. Among his work, he produced and acted in After Hours; he directed Practical Magic and the documentary The Center Will Not Hold about his aunt, Joan Didion. Griffin and his dog, Mary, live in the East Village of Manhattan.
With the haunting, moody prose of Tana French and the compulsive storytelling of Dervla McTiernan or Ann Cleeves, bestselling author Carlene O’Connor lures readers to a remote village on Ireland’s southwest coast, where winding windswept roads open to spectacular views of rugged cliffs against immense, lonely beaches . . . and some fear a mysterious cult could be connected to the disappearance of a young pregnant woman.
After two pregnant women in Dingle who have never met each receive a chilling email warning them that they’re in grave danger, the two decide to meet each other to figure out what is going on. But when one of the mothers, Shauna, a deaf woman, arrives at their meeting place at the village Spring Festival, she fears a trap and hurries off to meet the couple who plan to adopt her baby.
Meanwhile, Dimpna Wilde has her hands full with lambing season and keeping track of her father, so she’s grateful for the help of a well-meaning ten-year-old boy, Dylan, at the veterinary clinic. But when the lad goes missing after going into a bog on a dare with two other boys to search for a “monster,” she is desperate to help find him.
After the adoptive couple are discovered tied up in their home, telling a terrifying story of a deaf pregnant woman being abducted by a man wearing a butterfly mask, Detective Inspector Cormac O’Brien and Detective Sergeant Barbara Neely fear a repeat of a disturbing case from twenty years earlier, when a charismatic leader calling himself the Shepherd, lured poor pregnant girls into his enigmatic cult. Though allegations of baby smuggling were never proven, he’d been put away on other charges. But then they learn that the Shepherd has recently been released from prison.
Trapped in a cold, dark room with a frightened boy, Shauna fears for their lives as well as that of her unborn baby. If she has any chance of getting out and away from the Moth Man, as she calls her abductor, she’ll have to figure out the truth behind who she really is and how that connects to the ordeal she finds herself in now. But time is running out and her baby will be born soon . . .
My Review:
I’ve enjoyed the author’s cozy mystery series for some time, read most of them and then started this series. Book 3 is also my third and I’ve found each a bit darker.
Although Book 2 Some of Us Are Looking, began bordering on noir this one turned even darker from thriller to horror and I found some descriptions just too graphic for me.
Dimpna Wilde is a vet in a remote rural village on Ireland’s coast. Her practice has led her to confront the death of more than animals. In this installment, the gruesome body of a pregnant woman and her baby has been found. At the same time, a young boy and a pregnant teenage girl go missing.
Dimpna is again partnered with Detective Inspector Cormac O’Brien and Detective Sergeant Barbara Neely to help find the missing children as well as determine who and why the young woman was killed and her body dumped. Is an old cult resurfacing?
We’ve come up on the partnership of Dimpna and DI O’Brien before and rooted in the background for them to possibly light the spark that undeniably appears between them.
I’m not sure what really happened to this storyline though. It felt like it made a left turn somewhere in the plot and created a rather disjointed feel to the novel. I liked the POV from the teenage girl (who is also deaf!). Support characters are not developed—left more as dark shadows in the scene. I thought I detected a couple of small contradictions which left me a bit confused and as the narrative raced to the denouement, became ever more complex and confounding. I’m not sure—did that whole confusing explanation in conclusion make sense to you?
There is not enough of E.T., her sheepdog, Pickles, her border collie, and Guinness, her English bulldog in this one. I was enjoying the series even as it turned darker, but this one had me wondering what happened to the author with the sweet cozies and who is this one?
The setting is atmospheric, Dimpna is an interesting main character, and it appears she and Cormac may get cozy. If you enjoy stories written about Ireland or mysteries set in a unique village with a smart and unusual MC with a dark storyline chalked full of twists you can’t predict, you’ll enjoy. But be aware, this one gets graphic.
I received a copy of this book from my library that in no way influenced this review. These are my honest thoughts.
The Author: USA Today bestselling author Carlene O’Connor comes from a long line of Irish storytellers. Her great-grandmother emigrated from Ireland to America and the stories have been flowing ever since. Of all the places across the pond she’s wandered, she fell most in love with a walled town in County Limerick and was inspired to create the town of Kilbane, County Cork. She writes the bestselling IRISH VILLAGE MYSTERIES, the HOME TO IRELAND series, and the new COUNTY KERRY MYSTERIES. Her books have been translated into numerous languages, and optioned for television. Readers can find her at Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100086525205106 or through her website: http://www.carleneoconnor.net
January is a catch-up month around here, packing holiday decorations away, doing some cleaning, updating blog folders (and Challenge page) to 2025, and doing some general website housekeeping. I took a hard look at my challenges and signed up for the same few, but reduced goals this year. Just too much always going on to keep up and I’d dearly love to do some AI graphics.
After looking at WP templates and formats, it would appear I am pretty well stuck with the same one as I still don’t want to try the block editor again and so many of the templates only work with the block editor. As is, I’m finding problems with my widgets, the blocks interfering with spacing and I’m blocked from linking both Twitter feed and Instagram. Still, I want to update the look somewhat with whatever additional resources I have.
Decided I would continue to try for posts on Tuesday and Thursday—Sunday if the CE has a review available. Felt like our stats were dropping and I went in to get an average number of reviews per month, but last January 2024 (not counting bookish posts), we posted ten reviews. So then looking at all months and tallying the average, discovered that between the two of us, we are generally running about 11.33/books/mo. Maybe not fewer then, just a shift in where we are getting the books and an increase in audiobooks equal to the decrease in digitals.
I mentioned AI graphics before and looking at different apps and free downloads, found more than I thought available. I played around with the free version of Freepik, but the free version is very limited and doesn’t make sense to pay for the little I’d use. Between the two, the AI graphics on Canva (again my free version) offers greater diversity and is more user friendly. Still, one can always resort to Google Gemini 2.0 which creates limited graphics as well as text.
I’m using Goodreads to mine the opportunity for good audiobooks, as well as your suggestions, and books sourced at NetGalley, author and publisher requests, and my well-stocked library.
We managed thirteen reviews between us in January that included seven audiobooks. These links on titles are to our reviews that include purchase or source information.
No question this month, All We Thought We Knew by Michelle Shocklee left me breathless and satisfied. I recommended it to the CE and he burned through it in a couple days. No doubt this would make a super selection for any book club.
My Reading Challenges page…My Goodreads Challenge is currently at 18 of a 2025 goal of 125. No, keeping up with my Challenge page wasn’t a New Year’s resolution. I’ll get to it…
by and by.
Welcome to my new subscribers! So glad you joined our group. I hope all my readers are finding some amazing books to spend some quality hot chocolate, fireplace time with!
Behind the shelves of The Secret Bookcase, where the sun slants through the windows onto rows of classic crime novels, a body lies…
Bookseller Annie Murray is thrilled when the mystery-themed book festival she sets up to revive the dwindling fortunes of her workplace and sanctuary seems poised for success. But events take a shocking turn when a body is discovered hidden behind the shelves, and it’s revealed that the victim is Annie’s old college acquaintance.
Determined to ensure the festival’s success and save the small town of Redwood Grove from a killer, Annie begins piecing together clues with the help of her friends. But as the list of suspects grows longer—a local boutique owner, an envious old classmate, a bitter ex-boyfriend—Annie is drawn deeper into the case.
With the aid of her old criminology professor-turned-detective, can Annie unmask the murderer before they turn her festival into a real-life whodunit?
My Review:
I love it when I get the chance to get in on the ground floor—with Book 1 in a new series and by one of my favorite authors.
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The Body in the Bookstore introduces the reader to Annie Murray, bookseller and events manager of a quaint little bookshop in iconic rural Redwood Grove. Annie and her bestie Scarlet planned to open a detective agency after they graduated with degrees, but then Scarlet was murdered.
Business is lagging in the bookshop, however, book signings are not bringing in customers, and she comes up with a brilliant idea to involve the town in a special three-day Mystery Festival.
The festival is a big success until a body is discovered—in her bookshop.
Good thing the lead detective is her old professor with whom she can work and Annie and her local buddy get to work on the whodunit.
There are some engaging support characters here, including a kitty. Annie is a smart, independent protagonist, capable of delegating, multitasking. She uses what experience she’d gained from investigating her friend’s murder and begins a concentrated investigation. She has the clues, the support, and the resources.
The death of her friend Scarlet will continue to drive her and in the meantime, she has established a basis for the side hustle.
Looks to be a good start on the new series with an atmospheric small town and down home people. Writing style is well-paced with a solid cozy plot and those who enjoy the genre will surely enjoy this one.
I downloaded a copy of this audiobook from my local well-stocked library. These are my honest thoughts.
Rosepoint Publishing:Four point Five Stars
Book Details:
Genre: Cozy Mysteries, Amateur Sleuth Mysteries, Women Sleuth Mysteries Publisher:Dreamscape Media ASIN: B0D64CW59W Listening Length: 7 hrs 18 mins Narrator: Ellen Quay Publication Date: June 19, 2024 Source: Local Library (Audiobook Selections) Title Links:The Body in the Bookstore – Amazon-US Amazon-UK Barnes & Noble Kobo
The Author:ELLIE ALEXANDER is a voracious storyteller, a lover of words and all things bookish. She believes that stories have the ability to transport and transform us. With over thirty published novels and counting, her goal is to tell stories that provide points of connection, escape, and understanding.
She loves inhabiting someone else’s skin through the pages of a book and is passionate about helping writers find their unique storytelling lens. As a writing teacher and coach, she guides writers in crafting the story they’ve always wanted to tell while navigating the path to publication that’s right for them.
Find out more about Ellie, her books, and writing courses by visiting her online:
He is very proficient with a canoe and escapes on a foggy night and heads downstream. He will cross into Canada and leave the Foster Child Systems behind. His Indian name is Crazy Otter given to him by Stumbling Moose who tries to teach him the old ways. He knows that the officials will be looking for him and will put him in a juvenile detention facility until he is of age if he is caught. He stays in the darkest parts of the forest and continues northeast towards Canada.
As a child, I often thought of running away and making my own way heading north to Canada. Josh is much smarter because he read all of the books he could find on wilderness survival and how to exist in the wild. Building traps and foraging for edible foods and tubers, he could teach military survival. The further he melts into the wild, however, the more he becomes the hunted instead of the hunter. This is a great book for young scouts and others to read. 4.5 stars – CE Williams
The Author: Brock Farrow is an avid outdoorsman and survivalist with a deep love for the Laurentian Mountains. He holds a profound respect for Canada’s Indigenous peoples, especially the original inhabitants of the Laurentians—the Algonquin Nation. He believes that they have much to teach us about our relationship with the planet and each other. The Valley of the Wolves series is his first attempt to share his knowledge and admiration with others.
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