26. Where Peace is Lost by Valerie Valdes

read on Kindle

390 pgs.

2023
Adult SciFi
Finished 6/16/2025
Goodreads rating: 4.00
My rating: 3.5
Setting: On some far distant planet

My comments:  It was time for a decent scifi. I don't actually read books any more, I listen to them, but I read this one. and my reading was somewhat sporadic, so it got stretched out quite a bit from start to finish. I think this made it appear to go slowly - however I think it was my own pacing, not the book's, so I'll round my rating up to a four instead of down to a three. I liked Kel. A reviewer labeled this book a romance - I have to take issue with that. A little bit, maybe, but not enough to label the entire book a romance!

Goodreads synopsis:  A brand-new space fantasy novel from master world-builder Valerie Valdes! A refugee with a secret, a dangerous foe, and a road trip that could either save a planet or start a war.

Where peace is lost, may we find it.

Five years ago, Kelana Gardavros lost everything in the war against the Pale empire. Now Kel Garda is just another refugee living on the edge of an isolated star system. No one knows she was once a member of an Order whose military arm was disbanded and scattered across the galaxy. And no one knows that if her enemies found her, they might destroy the entire world to get rid of her.

Where peace is broken, may we mend it.

Kel’s past intrudes in the form of a long-dormant Pale war machine, suddenly reactivated. If the massive automaton isn’t stopped, at best it will carve a swath of devastation that displaces thousands of people. At worst, it will kill every sentient creature on the planet.

Where we go, may peace follow.

When two strangers offer to deactivate the machine for a price, Kel and a young friend agree to serve as their guides. The journey through swamps infested with predators and bandits is bad enough, but can they survive more nefarious dangers along the way? And will Kel’s fear of revealing her secrets doom the very people she’s trying to protect?

Where we fall, may peace rise.

25. Say You'll Remember Me by Abby Jiminez

listened on Libby

368 pgs. (9:59)

2025
Adult Romantic Fiction
Finished 6/8/2025
Goodreads rating: 4.07
My rating: 3.75
Setting: Half in LA, half in Minnesota, contemporary

My comments: Not really a Rom"COM" (there's some funny parts, but much of this book is pretty darned serious).  Samantha & Xavier fall hard for each other, but she lives in LA caring for her mother with dementia and he owns and runs a veterinary clinic in Minnesota.

Goodreads synopsis:  There might be no such a thing as a perfect guy, but Xavier Rush comes disastrously close. A gorgeous veterinarian giving Greek god vibes—all while cuddling a tiny kitten? Immediately yes. That is until Xavier opens his mouth and proves that even sculpted gods can say the absolute wrong thing. Like, really wrong. Of course, there’s nothing Samantha loves more than proving an asshole wrong…

. . . unless, of course, he can admit he made a mistake. But after one incredible and seemingly endless date—possibly the best in living history—Samantha is forced to admit the truth, that her family is in crisis and any kind of relationship would be impossible. Samantha begs Xavier to forget her. To remember their night together as a perfect moment, as crushing as that may be.

Only no amount of distance or time is nearly enough to forget that something between them. And the only thing better than one single perfect memory is to make a life—and even a love—worth remembering.

Garlic Rice Noodles

A Great Side Dish! 

Ingredients

• 8 oz rice noodles
• 3 tbsp butter (or sesame oil, or olive oil)
• 1 shallot (diced) (Shallot is sweeter than onion, but could use onion instead)
• 6 tsp garlic (minced)
• 2 tbsp brown sugar
• 3 tbsp soy sauce
• 2 green onions (sliced)

Instructions

• Prepare rice noodles al dente according to the package, without rinsing, and set aside
• Meanwhile, in a large skillet on medium-high heat, melt the butter then add the shallot and garlic, cooking for 1-2 minutes, until fragrant
• Add sugar and mix in until incorporated
• Pour in the soy sauce and simmer for 1 minute
• Add the noodles and cook another 3-5 minutes until the noodles have absorbed the sauce
• Serve garnished with green onions

24. Eleven Numbers by Lee Child

A Short Story

listened on Audible

50 pgs.

2025
Adult Contemporary Thriller Short Story
Finished 6/2/2025
Goodreads rating: 4.09
My rating: 4.5
Setting: 

My comments: This short but sweet story certainly kept my attention.  It was about a mathematician, the United States government, and Russian jails.  What a combo!  That it had an HEA totally surprised me, but it's a Lee Child, so that shouldn't surprise me at all!

Goodreads synopsis:  An American mathematician’s assignment in Russia spirals into a high-stakes maze of shifting loyalties and intrigue in a propulsive short thriller by #1 New York Times bestselling author Lee Child.

Nathan Tyler is an unassuming professor at a middling American university with a rather obscure specialty in mathematics—in short, a nobody from nowhere. So why is the White House calling? Summoned to Washington, DC, for a top-secret briefing, Nathan discovers that he’s the key to a massive foreign intelligence breakthrough. Reading between the lines of a cryptic series of equations, he could open a door straight into the heart of the Kremlin and change the global balance of power forever. All he has to do is get to a meeting with the renowned Russian mathematician who created it. But when Nathan crashes headlong into a dangerous new game, the odds against him suddenly look a lot steeper.