23. The Summer Guests by Tess Gerritson

#2 The Martini Club, Maine

listened on Audible

363 pgs.

2025
Adult mystery
Finished 5/14/2025
Goodreads rating:  4.30
My rating: 3.5
Setting: contemporary Purity, Maine, on the shore of a lake in a small tourist town on the ocean.

My comments: Susan and her daughter have come to her wealthy new i-laws "cabin" to spread the ashes of her deceased father-in-law.  When her daughter goes missing, the female police chief, Joe, as well as "the martini club", a group of retired CIOA operatives, get to work on the case.  Pretty slow-moving story, and quite difficult to like any of the characters!  Note: The town cop, Jo, seems to be somewhat of an idiot.

Goodreads synopsis:  When former spy Maggie Bird retired to the seaside hamlet of Purity, Maine, she settled in for a quiet life with breathtaking views. But enemies from her past soon threatened to destroy everything.

Maggie survived, thanks to her wits and the collective intelligence of the Martini Club, the circle of ex-CIA friends in her cocktail-sipping book club. Their handiwork, however, caught the attention of young police chief Jo Thibodeau. Now Jo and her neighborhood ex-spies have an uneasy alliance.

After a teenager vanishes—and Maggie’s neighbor becomes the prime suspect—she joins the investigation, determined to prove her friend’s innocence. But the girl’s wealthy family pushes for an arrest. And when authorities discover a long-dead corpse in a nearby pond, the case becomes doubly complicated, with unthinkable ties to long-buried secrets.

As Jo grapples with two unexplained mysteries, the Martini Club races to uncover the truth behind shadowy secrets…before more lives are lost.

Book Shelf Book Pocket

 

Anne Kenlon created a pocket imitating a bookshelf for her book lover's journal (which I must look into further).  It's so cute, cuter than the one I made!  Her short video is here.

Enchilada Casserole

This sounds easy and yummy!  Supposedly freezes well too.

Try halving this, or making it smaller

• 2 Tbsp. 

  extra-virgin olive oil

• 1 

  medium onion, chopped

• 1 

  bell pepper, chopped

• 2 

  cloves garlic, minced

• 1 

  (15.5-oz.) can black beans, rinsed and drained

• 1 

  (15.25-oz.) can corn, drained

• 3 cups 

  cooked, shredded chicken

• 1 

  (4.5-oz.) can diced green chilis

• 2 

  (10-oz.) cans enchilada sauce

• 18 

  corn tortillas

• 2 cups 

  shredded cheddar

• 2 cups 

  shredded Monterey jack

• Sour cream, for garnish

• Freshly chopped cilantro, for garnish

• Diced avocado, for garnish

Directions

• 1. Step 1Preheat oven to 350°. In a large skillet over medium heat, heat oil. Add onion and pepper and cook until soft, 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook until fragrant, 1 minute more. Add beans, corn, chicken, and green chilis and cook until warmed through, 5 minutes. Reserve ½ cup enchilada sauce then pour remaining sauce into skillet, stirring to combine. 
  2. Step 2Spread reserved ½ cup enchilada sauce into a 9”-x-13” then layer 6 tortillas in pan, overlapping to cover the entire pan. Pour ⅓ of mixture over tortillas then top with about ⅓ of each cheese. Top with another layer of tortillas and repeat to make 2 more layers, finishing with cheese. 
  3. Step 3Bake for 30 minutes or until cheese is melty and sauce is bubbling. 
  4. Step 4Garnish with sour cream, cilantro, and avocado.

22. How the Penguins Saved Veronica by Hazel Prior

listened on Libby

355 pgs.

2020
Adult CRF
Finished 5/7/2025
Goodreads rating:  4.09
My rating: 5
Setting: Lockett Island, Antarctica

My comments:  Delightful, charming, and funny....with an edge. Just what I needed. Loved it!  An 85 year-old travels by herself to Antarctica to learn about the penguins that live there, despite the objections of the small scientific crew that work there.  Told in three voices, that of Veronica, her newly found grandson, Patrick, and the podcast of Terry the yound femald scientist who lives at the station on Lockett Island.  I loved the story.

Goodreads synopsis:  A curmudgeonly but charming old woman, her estranged grandson, and a colony of penguins proves it's never too late to be the person you want to be in this rich, heartwarming story from the acclaimed author of Ellie and the Harpmaker.

Eighty-five-year-old Veronica McCreedy is estranged from her family and wants to find a worthwhile cause to leave her fortune to. When she sees a documentary about penguins being studied in Antarctica, she tells the scientists she’s coming to visit—and won’t take no for an answer. Shortly after arriving, she convinces the reluctant team to rescue an orphaned baby penguin. He becomes part of life at the base, and Veronica's closed heart starts to open.

Her grandson, Patrick, comes to Antarctica to make one last attempt to get to know his grandmother. Together, Veronica, Patrick, and even the scientists learn what family, love, and connection are all about.

21. Crow Talk by Eileen Garvin

listened on Libby

368 pgs.

2024
Adult CRF
Finished 5/4/2025
Goodreads rating: 4.13
My rating: 4.75
Setting: Contemporary Washington state - in the middle of a lake

My comments: This story is about two different women, both on uncomfortable paths in their lives, how those paths become connected and smoothed.  Set in the woods on the edge of a lake in Washington state, only accessible by boat as winter is beginning to approach.  Ann, an Irish woman who now lives with her husband in Seattle, is a singer and music teacher whose five-year-old son, Aiden, has stopped talking and communicating.  In the cottage next door is Frankie, an ornithologist, who has butt heads with her mentor and is uncertain if her masters dissertation will be accepted.  And then there are the crows.... 

     It took awhile for me to get into the story, but about halfway through I became enamored as it pulled me in more and more.  And PHEW, a HEA.

Goodreads synopsis:  Nationally bestselling author of The Music of Bees Eileen Garvin returns with a moving story of hope, healing, and unexpected friendship set amidst the wild natural beauty of the Pacific Northwest.

Frankie O’Neill and Anne Ryan would seem to have nothing in common. Frankie is a lonely ornithologist struggling to salvage her dissertation on the spotted owl following a rift with her advisor. Anne is an Irish musician far from home and family, raising her five-year-old, Aiden, who refuses to speak.

At Beauty Bay, a community of summer homes nestled on the shores of June Lake, in the remote foothills of Mount Adams, it’s off-season with most houses shuttered for the fall. But Frankie, adrift, returns to the rundown caretaker’s cottage that has been in the hardworking O'Neill family for generations—a beloved place and a constant reminder of the family she has lost. And Anne, in the wake of a tragedy that has disrupted her career and silenced her music, has fled to the neighboring house, a showy summer home owned by her husband's wealthy family.

When Frankie finds an injured baby crow in the forest, little does she realize that the charming bird will bring all three lost souls—Frankie, Anne, and Aiden—together on a journey toward hope, healing, and rediscovering joy. Crow Talk is an achingly beautiful story of love, grief, friendship, and the healing power of nature in the darkest of times.

20. The Fall Risk - a short story by Abby Jimenez

listened on Audible

96 pgs.

2025
Adult RomCom/ChickLit
Finished 4/27/2025
Goodreads rating: 4.09
My rating: 3.75

My comments: There's a stalker, his stalk-ee, and adorable neighbor, and a long weekend with no stairs to either go up or down to their apartments.  And within the short story the stalker problem is solved and love ensues.

Goodreads synopsis:  Two good neighbors make the best of a bad Valentine’s Day in a funny and improbably romantic short story by the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Just for the Summer.

It’s Valentine’s Day weekend, and Charlotte and Seth are not looking for romance. Armed with emotional-support bear spray, Charlotte is in self-imposed isolation and on guard from men. Having a stalker can do that to a person’s nerves. Just across the hall and giving off woodsy vibes is Seth, a recently divorced arborist. As in today recently. Heights, he’s fine with. Trust? Not so much. But when disaster traps them one flight up and no way down, an outrageously precarious predicament forces a tree-loving guy and a rattled girl next door to embrace their captivity. Soon their defenses are breaking away. Considering how close they both are to the edge, Charlotte and Seth could be in danger of falling—in love.

19. Tell Me What You Did by Carter Wilson

listened on Libby

420 pgs.

2025
Adult mystery 
Finished 4/26/2025
Goodreads rating: 3.74
My rating: 3.75
Setting: contemporary America - just can't remember where

My comments: Poe runs a podcast where she interviews people who have perpetrated some sort of crime.  But now she becomes the prey ot a ruthless stalker.  Somewhat of a loner, she lives a secluded life with her dog, Bailey, her only close associations that of her producer (and boyfriend), and her father.  She'd watched her mother being murdered 17 years prior, and this entire story is about her reliving how she captured and murdered the killer herself.  But now someone claiming to be him is after her, using her own podcast.  There weren't many surprises along the way, nevertheless it kept me on the edge of my seat ... it just went on a little too long.

Goodreads synopsis:  She gets people to confess their crimes for a living. He knows she's hiding a terrible secret. It's time for the truth to come out…

Poe Webb, host of a popular true crime podcast, invites people to anonymously confess crimes they've committed to her audience. She can't guarantee the police won't come after her "guests," but her show grants simultaneous anonymity and instant fame—a potent combination that's proven difficult to resist. After an episode recording, Poe usually erases both criminal and crime from her mind.

But when a strange and oddly familiar man appears on her show, Poe is forced to take a second look. Not only because he claims to be her mother's murderer from years ago, but because Poe knows something no one else does. Her mother's murderer is dead.

Poe killed him.

From the USA Today bestselling author of The Dead Girl in 2A and The New Neighbor comes a chilling new thriller that forces the question: are murderers always the bad guys?

Shop Hops

 I LOVE Shop Hops!

7/1 - 8/31/2025  All Mid-Atlantic Shop Hop (PA-NJ-WV-VA-DE)

8/1 - 8/31/2025  Tri State Paper Crafting Shop Hop (Ohio-Indiana-Michigan)

9/24 - 10/4/2025  Buggies and Buds Shop Hop (Eastern PA)

          Dover - Treasures Old and New

          Ephrata - L & L Rubber Stamps & Scrapbooking

          Greencastle - Stampin' Station/Home of Purple Daisy Design

          Honey Brook - Shady Lane Impressios

          Lancaster - Country Cottage Creations

          Lititz - Cozy Crop House

          Mechanicsburg - Joys of Life

          Paradise - Farmhouse Memories

Bits and Bobs

 TrashyTreasyours creates cute ephemera to stick here and there with different sizes of circle punches, distress ink, stencils, fussy cuts, stickers..... So easy and almost mindless.  Video here.

18. Bright Side by Kim Holden

listened on Audible

423 pgs.

2014
Contemporary "New Adult" romance
Finished 4/16/2025
Goodreads rating: 
My rating: 5
Setting: 

My comments: The first half of this book was really great with an incredibly personable protagonist with the most positive attitude - totally refreshing.  But little by little hints were given that made me realize the story was not going to end without some really sad feelings, and even, maybe, tears.  This was correct.  The whole story was beautifully written, although the end tended to go on and on and on a little too much.  Maybe I say that because there was sadness and grief that was heaped on top of even more sadness and grief.  It also made me think a lot of Steve's last days.  It was definitely a good read, but I HATE tearjerker books. So my rating is tainted a bit....

     SYNOPSIS:  Kate has just moved from San Diego to Minneapolis to begin her college degree.  She speaks with her best friend, Gus, at least once a day.  He is closer than a brother.  They were practically raised together and their banter is exceptional.  His band, of which he is the lead singer and songwriter, has just gotten a record deal and is on the road.  They're hitting it big, fast.  She is making great friends in Minneapolis.  She is positive, friendly, happy, and helpful to all.  And then...

Goodreads synopsis:  Secrets.

Everyone has one.
Some are bigger than others.
And when secrets are revealed,
Some will heal you ...
And some will end you.

Kate Sedgwick’s life has been anything but typical. She’s endured hardship and tragedy, but throughout it all she remains happy and optimistic (there’s a reason her best friend Gus calls her Bright Side). Kate is strong-willed, funny, smart, and musically gifted. She’s also never believed in love. So when Kate leaves San Diego to attend college in the small town of Grant, Minnesota, the last thing she expects is to fall in love with Keller Banks.

They both feel it.
But they each have a reason to fight it.
They each have a secret.

And when secrets are revealed,
Some will heal you …
And some will end you.

17. Cold as Hell by Kelley Armstrong

#3 Haven's Rock

listened on Libby

341 pgs.

2025
Adult Mystery
Finished 4-13-25
Goodreads rating: 4.29
My rating: 4
Setting: Contemporary middle-of-nowhere, Yukon, Canada

My comments: It's great to be back with Casey and crew in the middle-of-nowhere Yukon.  Casey is now eight months pregnant, in a pregnancy that has had many worries and mishaps.  Their new community is only a little over a year old and they are working hard to make it safe and happy for all, when one of the female inhabitants is kidnapped, assaulted, and rescued in the nick of time.  Shortly after that, another female disappears, found murdered in a gruesome way.  All of Haven's Rock is shocked because everyone has been vetted extremely carefully so they know that no "crazies" have been let in.  How wrong they are.  The mystery is well written, and you know that near the end of the book there's going to be a very harried birth, complete with almost tragic results.  I do enjoy and look forward to every book in the series.

Goodreads synopsis:  Haven’s Rock is a sanctuary town hidden deep in the Yukon for those who need to disappear from the regular world. Detective Casey Duncan and her husband, Sheriff Eric Dalton, are starting a family now that they’ve settled into their life here. As Casey nears the end of her pregnancy, she lets nothing, including her worried husband, stop her from investigating what happens in the forbidden forest outside the town of Haven’s Rock.

When one of the town's residents is drugged and wanders too close to the edge of town, she’s dragged into the woods kicking and screaming. She’s saved in the nick of time, but the women of the town are alarmed. Casey and Eric investigate the assault just as a snowstorm hits Haven’s Rock, covering the forest. It’s there they find a frozen body, naked in the snow. With mixed accounts of the woman's last movements, the two begin to question who they can trust—and who they can't—in their seemingly safe haven.

16. A Steep Price by Robert Dugoni

#6 Tracy Crosswhite

listened on Audible

410 pgs.

2018
Adult Police Procedural
Finished 4/10/2025
Goodreads rating: 4.38
My rating: 4.5
Setting: Contemporary Seattle

My comments: Although depressing, this mystery was super interesting and kept me on my toes, looking forward to returning each time I had to stop reading.  There are two (interesting) cases going on at once, Tracy is pregnant, and we get much more acquainted with Fazio and his wife Vera, who has just discovered she has breast cancer. 

Goodreads synopsis:  Called in to consult after a young woman disappears, Tracy Crosswhite has the uneasy feeling that this is no ordinary missing-persons case. When the body turns up in an abandoned well, Tracy’s suspicions are confirmed. Estranged from her family, the victim had balked at an arranged marriage and had planned to attend graduate school. But someone cut her dreams short.

Solving the mystery behind the murder isn’t Tracy’s only challenge. The detective is keeping a secret of her she’s pregnant. And now her biggest fear seems to be coming true when a new detective arrives to replace her. Meanwhile, Tracy’s colleague Vic Fazzio is about to take a fall after his investigation into the murder of a local community activist turns violent and leaves an invaluable witness dead.

Two careers are on the line. And when more deadly secrets emerge, jobs might not be the only things at risk.

Inspiration for Art Pages that are Actually Easy Enough for Me to Do!!!

 Stamps, distress inks and a tiny bit of fussy cutting....I can actually pull this off myself!  Super short video and I have all the materials!  vickyp

15. The Boxcar Librarian by Brianna Lusbuskes

listened on Audible (purchased)

464 pgs. (13:20)

2025
Adult Historical Fiction
Finished 3/31/25
Goodreads rating: 4.17
My rating: 4.5
Setting: Early 20th century Montana

My comments: Three points of view:  1930s Millie, 1920s Alice, 1910s Colette, all coming together in the end.  The story is set in Montana in various small towns and cities.  It is Alice's vision to have a library in a boxcar that travels from lumber camps to mining sites throughout Montana.  Conditions are super hard for the working men, and "the company" is the royal ruler of all.  Colette's father is a miner and a union man. Alices's father is an extremely rich mayor and supporter of "the company."  Millie is an orphan from Texas who now works in Washington DC and comes to observe the group of people that are writing a travel summary for the government.  Once I began to easily tell the three women's voices apart the story became quite fascinating.

Goodreads synopsis:  Inspired by true events, a thrilling Depression-era novel from the author of The Librarian of Burned Books about a woman’s quest to uncover a mystery surrounding a local librarian and the Boxcar Library—a converted mining train that brought books to isolated rural towns in Montana.

When Works Progress Administration (WPA) editor Millie Lang finds herself on the wrong end of a potential political scandal, she’s shipped off to Montana to work on the state’s American Guide Series—travel books intended to put the nation’s destitute writers to work.

Millie arrives to an eclectic staff claiming their missed deadlines are due to sabotage, possibly from the state’s powerful Copper Kings who don’t want their long and bloody history with union organizers aired for the rest of the country to read. But Millie begins to suspect that the answer might instead lie with the town’s mysterious librarian, Alice Monroe.

More than a decade earlier, Alice Monroe created the Boxcar Library in order to deliver books to isolated mining towns where men longed for entertainment and connection. Alice thought she found the perfect librarian to staff the train car in Colette Durand, a miner’s daughter with a shotgun and too many secrets behind her eyes. 

Now, no one in Missoula will tell Millie why both Alice and Colette went out on the inaugural journey of the Boxcar Library, but only Alice returned.

The three women’s stories dramatically converge in the search to uncover what someone is so desperately trying to what happened to Colette Durand.

Inspired by the fascinating, true history of Missoula’s Boxcar Library, the novel blends the story of the strong, courageous women who survived and thrived in the rough and rowdy West with that of the power of standing together to fight for workers’ lives. And through it all shines the capacity of books to provide connection and light to those who need it most.

14. Listen for the Lie by Amy Tinterra

listened on Libby, but it returned itself (early!) so I had to buy it on Audible to finish.

352 pgs.

2024
Adult Mystery
Finished 3/21/25
Goodreads rating: 4.09
My rating: 4
Setting: contemporary small town Texas

My comments: Well, that was certainly an entertaining listen.  You never knew who to believe, including the protagonish, who heard voices in her head.  Many violent people, many nutso people, and a whole lot of extra marital screwing going on in this little town in Txas.  I've never enjoyed a podcast-based story before, but this was not bad, the interruption of the podcast kept things moving along perfectly, pushing it in the right direction.  

Goodreads synopsis:  What if you thought you murdered your best friend? And if everyone else thought so too? And what if the truth doesn't matter?

       Lucy and Savvy were the golden girls of their small Texas town: pretty, smart, and enviable. Lucy married a dream guy with a big ring and an even bigger new home. Savvy was the social butterfly loved by all and, if you believe the rumors, especially popular with the men in town. But after Lucy is found wandering the streets, covered in her best friend Savvy’s blood, everyone thinks she is a murderer.
       It’s been years since that horrible night, a night Lucy can’t remember anything about, and she has since moved to LA and started a new life. But now the phenomenally huge hit true crime podcast Listen for the Lie and its too-good looking host, Ben Owens, have decided to investigate Savvy’s murder for the show’s second season. Lucy is forced to return to the place she vowed never to set foot in again to solve her friend’s murder, even if she is the one who did it.
       The truth is out there, if we just listen.