Wednesday, March 5, 2025

Gelli Printing Ideas

Years ago I purchased the tools to do Gelli/Gel Printing, but I haven't a clue of memory about how, exactly, to use them!

This shortish (31:40) video by Brenda Clark, aka The Simple Crafter showed me a quick and easy way to get started again...with the perfect spring project!  Just need the Gel pad/s, brayer, acrylic paints, (for these pastels, black, and white) cheap flash cards, and a variety of  "junk" to leave marks....plastic packing popping paper (LOVE the alliteration!), plastic canvas grids - just a small piece, peeled off- corrugated cardboard that shows the lines (lovel!).   This will be a really FUN project to do!


Tuesday, March 4, 2025

365 Days of Junk Journaling Ideas

On January 1st, Kate Marshall of Inked Paper Art began a new 2025 series entitled "365 Days of Junk Journal Ideas."

Two great things about these:

They're blessedly short, most are around 15 minutes, very infrequently going more than 20 minutes - YAAAAY!
She shows you clearly what to do and doesn't give a lot of unnecessary chit-chat or long pauses while she thinks or looks for something.

I'm taking it upon myself to watch and annotate them all.

Day 1:  Making Faux Aged Tape using transparent Scotch tape and alcohol ink.
Day 2:  7 Pockets out of one 8 1/2 x 11 inch double-sided paper.  One is a 5-pocket glue-onto-page and there are 2 leftover triangles for corner pockets on another page or pages.
Day 3:  Making a blended background using flicked water over distressed/blended papers.  
Day 4:  Making a 12 x 12 collage master board and how she cuts and uses them
Day 5:  Using upcycled photo slides to create a dangling charm.
Day 6:  Making floating pockets and tabs.  I did!  Here's the front and back:
        

Sunday, March 2, 2025

Black and White Junk Journal Ideas

From Megjournals "Finishing an altered book: Adding quotes and writing"  on YouTube:
(Don't even need to see the video, she just used a stencil and black acrylic paint.....

Saturday, March 1, 2025

10. The Vanishing Season by Joanna Schaffhausen

#1 Ellery Hathaway
listened on Libby
274 pgs. (8:58)
2017
Adult mystery/thriller
Finished 3/1/2025
Goodreads rating: 3.81
My rating: 4
Setting: contemporary small town central Massachusetts

My comments: Ellery had been the victim of a serial killer, saved in the nick of time by a young FBI agent named Agent Reed Markham. Years later she's a top in a small Massachusetts town where no one knows her identity.  However, for the past three years she's been receiving ominous anonymous birthday cards, and there has been three annual disappearances, all at the beginning of the month of July.  She knows something is awry.  So she gets in touch with that FBI agent from fourteen years ago and more problems ensue.  This is good storytelling and kept me quite attentive.  Sick minds.  Very sick minds. A very bad guy and his equally-as-bad copycat. 
    Note:  Abrupt ending
    Another note:  I never really liked or trusted the protagonist, I'm not sure why.....

Goodreads:  Ellery Hathaway knows a thing or two about serial killers, but not through her police training. She's an officer in sleepy Woodbury, MA, where a bicycle theft still makes the newspapers. No one there knows she was once victim number seventeen in the grisly story of serial killer Francis Michael Coben. The only one who lived.

When three people disappear from her town in three years―all around her birthday―Ellery fears someone knows her secret. Someone very dangerous. Her superiors dismiss her concerns, but Ellery knows the vanishing season is coming and anyone could be next. She contacts the one man she knows will believe her: the FBI agent who saved her from a killer all those years ago.

Agent Reed Markham made his name and fame on the back of the Coben case, but his fortunes have since turned. His marriage is in shambles, his bosses think he's washed up, and worst of all, he blew a major investigation. When Ellery calls him, he can’t help but wonder: sure, he rescued her, but was she ever truly saved? His greatest triumph is Ellery’s waking nightmare, and now both of them are about to be sucked into the past, back to the case that made them...with a killer who can't let go.

Paper Clips for Junk Journals


Lolly Palooza does a LOT of different paper clip styles.  For one she mass-makes the center part (the clip and the cardstock holding it together) and they're all ready to just grab and embellish!  Check it out here.



Gluebooks

Shanouki's Glue Book - The beginning, her thinking, her choices of materials (above) is....here.  Her theme is SHOES.  Fun!
       Here's her vintage-colored shoe page.
              A red one's here.

Tuesday, February 25, 2025

Themed Junk Journal Ideas

I want to make a junk journal about books, reading, libraries.......

Cindy Burkhalter Books by Burk has a YouTube video (25:22) that' all about making a junk journal with this theme!  She's titled it Junk Journal Flip Through.   Lots of great page and paper ideas. (In particular, she sews, but hand, sort of sloppily, around a journaling card.  LOVE IT!)

Book Journaling by Elaine has a video (33:10) showing her 2024/2025 journal.  It's tall and has three signatures, each one being a different subject.....Signature 1 is Lists, Signature 2 is Challenges, and Signature 3 is Reviews and Annotations.  That's the part that interests me most....she uses photocopies of the book covers with just a few handwritten notes on ripped paper.  Some are large, some are small.  I think I'd scatter all three types of journaling throughout my book, starting at the beginning and following somewhat in date order as the year proceeds..... This video is titled My Vintage Reading Journal Flip-Through: Junk Journal Style with Freebies and Kits.  Go right to the third section for inspiration.

Friday, February 21, 2025

9. The Forest of Vanishing Stars by Kristin Harmel

listened on Libby
376 pgs. (11:21)
2021
Adult Historical Fiction - WWII
Finished 2/22/2025
Goodreads rating: 4.25
My rating: 4.25
Setting: 1920s - 1944 Poland, woods

My comments: Set in a huge forest in Poland, mostly in the 1940s during World War II, a young girl is kidnapped by an old lady and raised in the forest learning survival skills, languages, Jewish prayers and customs until she is 21 and on her own.  She meets, helps, and guides a small group of Jewish refugees fleeing from their ghetto when everyone except them has been murdered by the Germans.  This tells the story of this girl and the people she saves and helps and loves.  It's an incredible survival story with a little bit of suspended belief here and there.  Good storytelling.

Goodreads synopsis:  The New York Times bestselling author of the The Book of Lost Names returns with an evocative coming-of-age World War II story about a young woman who uses her knowledge of the wilderness to help Jewish refugees escape the Nazis—until a secret from her past threatens everything.

After being stolen from her wealthy German parents and raised in the unforgiving wilderness of eastern Europe, a young woman finds herself alone in 1941 after her kidnapper dies. Her solitary existence is interrupted, however, when she happens upon a group of Jews fleeing the Nazi terror. Stunned to learn what’s happening in the outside world, she vows to teach the group all she can about surviving in the forest—and in turn, they teach her some surprising lessons about opening her heart after years of isolation. But when she is betrayed and escapes into a German-occupied village, her past and present come together in a shocking collision that could change everything.

Inspired by incredible true stories of survival against staggering odds, and suffused with the journey-from-the-wilderness elements that made Where the Crawdads Sing a worldwide phenomenon, The Forest of Vanishing Stars is a heart-wrenching and suspenseful novel.

Saturday, February 8, 2025

8. Cut and Thirst by Margaret Atwood

listened on Audible
35 pgs.
2024
Adult contemporary short story
Finished 2/8/2025
Goodreads rating: 3.13
My rating: 4
Setting: contemporary Canada

My comments: A short story set in Canada (that's where the author resides) about three older women who have been friends and colleagues for years.   The decide they must find a way to get revenge on a very disliked (male) member of their university literary community for doing something very mean to a fourth friend, Fern,  who is now declining rapidly and they blame it on this past altercation.  Their reminiscing, thoughts on getting older, and plans for murder (lol) are quite entertaining!  I kept wondering how they'd end the story....that seems to be my problem about reading short stories....but I was not disappointed.  I enjoyed this one.

Goodreads synopsis:  Three women scheme to avenge an old friend in a darkly witty short story about loyalty, ambition, and delicious retribution by Margaret Atwood, the #1 bestselling author of The Handmaid’s Tale.

Myrna, Leonie, and Chrissy meet every Thursday to sample fine cheeses, to reminisce about their former lives as professors, and lately, to muse about murder. Decades ago, a vicious cabal of male poets contrived—quite publicly and successfully—to undermine the writing career, confidence, and health of their dear friend Fern. Now, after Fern has taken a turn for the worse, her three old friends decide that it’s finally time to strike back—in secret, of course, since Fern is far too gentle to approve of a vendetta. All they need is a plan with suitably Shakespearean drama. But as sweet and satisfying as revenge can be, it’s not always so cut and dried.

Tuesday, February 4, 2025

7. The Return of Ellie Black by Emiko Jean

listened on Libby
299 pgs.
2024
Adult mystery
Finished 2/4/2025
Goodreads rating: 4.01
My rating: 4
Setting: Contemporary small-town Washington state

My comments: Told from many viewpoints, but two in particular.....Ellie Black, who has just stumbled out of the woods after two years captivity, and Chelsea Calhoun, the detective in their small Washington town who's trying to figure out the case.  Very good storytelling, interesting plot twists slowly revealed, and just a few slower sections in the middle of the book. 

Goodreads synopsis:  Detective Chelsey Calhoun’s life is turned upside down when she gets the call Ellie Black, a girl who disappeared years earlier, has resurfaced in the woods of Washington state—but Ellie’s reappearance leaves Chelsey with more questions than answers.

It’s been twenty years since Detective Chelsey Calhoun’s sister vanished when they were teenagers, and ever since she’s been searching: for signs, for closure, for other missing girls. But happy endings are rare in Chelsey’s line of work.

Then a glimmer: local teenager Ellie Black, who disappeared without a trace two years earlier, has been found alive in the woods of Washington State.

But something is not right with Ellie. She won’t say where she’s been, or who she’s protecting, and it’s up to Chelsey to find the answers. She needs to get to the bottom of what happened to Ellie: for herself, and for the memory of her sister, but mostly for the next girl who could be taken—and who, unlike Ellie, might never return.

The debut thriller from New York Times bestselling author Emiko Jean, The Return of Ellie Black is both a feminist tour de force about the embers of hope that burn in the aftermath of tragedy and a twisty page-turner that will shock and surprise you right up until the final page.

Sunday, February 2, 2025

6. Head Cases by John McMahon

#1 FBI PAR Unit
listened on Audible (purchased)
352 pgs.
2025
Adult police procedural/series
Finished 2/2/25
Goodreads rating: 4.16
My rating: 4.25
Setting: The team is based in Florida, but this takes place more on the west coast

My comments: Gardner Camden is a savant autistic who has a photographic memory.  He was raised by a really savvy mother (who happened to be a psychiatrist) who's taught him how to survive in the real world.  He remembers everything she's taught him.  He is part of a special FBI unit called PAR, which is full of incredibly smart (and eccentric) people who have screwed up in the FBI. But boy, can they figure things out! This story looks like the first of a series.  The plot was terribly complicated and intense....and really good.

Goodreads synopsis:  Head Cases follows an enigmatic group of FBI agents as they hunt down a murderer seeking his own justice in this electrifying—and commercial—series debut.

FBI Agent Gardner Camden is an analytical genius with an affinity for puzzles. He also has a blind spot on the human side of investigations, a blindness that sometimes even includes people in his own life, like his beloved seven-year-old daughter Camila. Gardner and his squad of brilliant yet quirky agents make up the Patterns and Recognition (PAR) unit, the FBI’s hidden edge, brought in for cases that no one else can solve.

When DNA links a murder victim to a serial killer long presumed dead, the team springs into action. A second victim establishes a pattern, and the murderer begins leaving a trail of clues and riddles especially for Gardner. And while the PAR team is usually relegated to working cold cases from behind a desk, the investigation puts them on the road and into the public eye, following in the footsteps of a killer.

Along with Gardner, PAR consists of a mathematician, a weapons expert, a computer analyst, and their leader, a career agent. Each of them must use every skill they have to solve the riddle of the killer’s identity. But with the perpetrator somehow learning more and more about the team at PAR, can they protect themselves and their families…before it’s too late?

With an enigmatic case that will keep readers on the edge of their seats and a thoroughly engaging ensemble cast, John McMahon’s Head Cases is a triumph.

Wednesday, January 29, 2025

5. Deep into the Dark by P. J. Tracy

#1 in a series about an LA Female cop (Det. Margaret Nolan), although she wasn't really the protagonist in this first book....
listened on Audible
339 pgs.
2021
Adult murder mystery/police procedural
Finished 1/29/25
Goodreads rating: 3.77
My rating: 4
Setting: contemporary LA

My comments: Sam Easton is an Afghanistan war vet with some shattered (and recurring) memories who becomes deeply involved in a series of murders that become more and more related to him.  Tracy's writing is eloquent, I really love the way she puts words together!  Looking forward to more of her writing.

Goodreads synopsis:  Sam Easton—a true survivor—is home from Afghanistan, trying to rebuild a life in his hometown of LA. Separated from his wife, bartending and therapy sessions are what occupy his days and nights. When friend and colleague Melody Traeger is beaten by her boyfriend, she turns to Sam for help. When the boyfriend turns up dead the next day, a hard case like Sam is the perfect suspect.

But LAPD Detective Margaret Nolan, whose brother recently died serving overseas, is sympathetic to Sam's troubles, and can't quite see him as a killer. She's more interested in the secrets Melody might be keeping and the developments in another murder case on the other side of town.

Wednesday, January 22, 2025

4. Blood Sisters by Vanessa Lillie

listened on Audible while sick in Tucson
371 pgs. (9:49)
2023
Adult contemporary mystery
Finished 1/22/2025
Goodreads rating: 3.84
My rating: 4
Setting: 2008 northeastern Oklahoma

My comments: A queer Cherokee archaeologist/investigator for the BIA returns home to her native Oklahoma after three years to search for her missing sister.  This one got a little slow in more than one place, but ultimately was pretty decent storytelling, adding fuel to the fire in the history of missing Native American females, which has been going on - and almost completely ignored - for years and years.

Goodreads synopsis:  A visceral and compelling mystery about a Cherokee archeologist for the Bureau of Indian Affairs who is summoned to rural Oklahoma to investigate the disappearance of two women…one of them her sister.

There are secrets in the land.

As an archeologist for the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Syd Walker spends her days in Rhode Island trying to protect the land's indigenous past, even as she’s escaping her own.

While Syd is dedicated to her job, she’s haunted by a night of violence she barely escaped in her Oklahoma hometown fifteen years ago. Though she swore she’d never go back, the past comes calling.

When a skull is found near the crime scene of her youth, just as her sister, Emma Lou, vanishes, Syd knows she must return home. She refuses to let her sister's disappearance, or the remains, go ignored—as so often happens in cases of missing Native women.

But not everyone is glad to have Syd home, and she can feel the crosshairs on her back. Still, the deeper Syd digs, the more she uncovers about a string of missing indigenous women cases going back decades. To save her sister, she must expose a darkness in the town that no one wants to face—not even Syd.

The truth will be unearthed.

Monday, January 20, 2025

3. The Big Empty by Robert Crais

#20 Elvis Cole and Joe Pike
listened on Audible - purchased
373 pgs. (8:25)
2025
Adult Contemporary Mystery/series
Finished 1/20/2025
Goodreads rating: 4.65
My rating: 5
Setting: southern California

My comments: Interesting, edge-of-your seat story that pretty much had me guessing till the end.  What else can you ask for in a murder mystery procedural?  A protagonist/PI with a sense of humor?  Check.  Interesting, well-flushed out characters?  Check that off, too.  Disturbing murders....unfortunately.  This was a good one.

Goodreads synopsis:  Traci Beller was thirteen when her father disappeared in the sleepy town of Rancha, not far from Los Angeles. The evidence says Tommy Beller abandoned his family, but Traci never believed it. The police couldn't find her dad and neither could the detectives her mother hired, but now, ten years later, Traci is a super-popular influencer with millions of followers and the money to hire a new detective: Elvis Cole.

Taking on a ten-years-cold missing person case is almost always a loser, but Elvis heads to Rancha where he learns an ex-con named Sadie Givens and her daughter, Anya, might have a line on the missing man. But when Elvis finds himself shadowed by a deadly gang of vicious criminals, the simple missing persons case becomes far more sinister and dangerous. Elvis calls in his ex-Marine friend, Joe Pike, to help, but even Pike might not be able to help.

As Elvis Cole and Joe Pike follow Tommy Beller's trail into the twisted, nightmare depths of a monstrous evil, the case flips on its head. Victims become predators, predators become prey, and when everyone is a victim, can Elvis Cole save them all?

In a case that tests Elvis Cole's loyalty to his clients and himself, the truth must come out no matter the cost. Elvis must face The Big Empty and see justice done.

Saturday, January 18, 2025

2. The Stolen Queen by Fiona Davis

listened on Audible (purchased)
339 pgs. (10:18)
2025
Adult Historical Fiction Mystery
Finished 1/18/2025
Goodreads rating: 4.11
My rating: 3.5
Setting: Egypt, 1930s & 1978; NYC 1978

My comments: As likable as the story was, I had to suspend belief on some of the coincidences that too easily occurred in places in this story.  Spoilers ahead!  Annie and her point of view were likable and heartfelt, but also pushy and nosy, pushing the plot uncomfortably.  And since Charlotte kept her name and had a prominent position in the Egyptian antiquities community, it's very hard to believe that someone in the same business, albeit in a different country than the US, would not have realized that she was still alive.  And I truly can't believe that in the late 1970s anyone would be just allowed into any of the closed-off tombs like Charlotte and Annie were, no matter their expertise or credentials.  Lots of coincidences and incongruities, unfortunately.  Set in the mid 1930s in Egypt and in 1978 New York, it flip-flopped back-and-forth between those two time periods with the same protagonist.  Such mixed feelings I have about this book!  So much to love, so much to frown about.  3?  3/5?  4?  Eek!

Goodreads synopsis:  From New York Times bestselling author Fiona Davis, an utterly addictive new novel that will transport you from New York City’s most glamorous party to the labyrinth streets of Cairo and back.

Egypt, 1936: When anthropology student Charlotte Cross is offered a coveted spot on an archaeological dig in Egypt’s Valley of the Kings, she leaps at the opportunity. But after an unbearable tragedy strikes, Charlotte knows her future will never be the same.

New York City, 1978: Eighteen-year-old Annie Jenkins is thrilled when she lands an opportunity to work for iconic former Vogue fashion editor Diana Vreeland, who’s in the midst of organizing the famous Met Gala, hosted at the museum and known across the city as the “party of the year.” Though Annie soon realizes she’ll have her work cut out for her, scrambling to meet Diana’s capricious demands and exacting standards.

Meanwhile, Charlotte, now leading a quiet life as the associate curator of the Met’s celebrated Department of Egyptian Art, wants little to do with the upcoming gala. She’s consumed with her research on Hathorkare—a rare female pharaoh dismissed by most other Egyptologists as unimportant.

That is, until the night of the gala. When one of the Egyptian art collection’s most valuable artifacts goes missing . . . and there are signs Hathorkare’s legendary curse might be reawakening.

As Annie and Charlotte team up to search for the missing antiquity, a desperate hunch leads the unlikely duo to one place Charlotte swore she’d never return: Egypt. But if they’re to have any hope of finding the artifact, Charlotte will need to confront the demons of her past—which may mean leading them both directly into danger.

Sunday, January 12, 2025

1. The Walking Fish by Rachelle Burk

read on Kindle
192 pgs.
2015
Middle Grades CRF/STEM
Finished 1/12/2025
Goodreads rating: 4.16
My rating: 5
Setting: Summer at the protagonist's cottage on Glacial Lake

My comments: Rachelle Burk is coming to my school at the end of the month, and I had never heard of her before.  This book was great!  It was very well written, had humor, and honestly portrays a middle schooler who's a good kid but twists things around a little to suit herself and is naturally curious.  It's a perfect STEM/STEAM read!

Goodreads synopsis:  A humorous, exciting tale of an ordinary girl who makes an extraordinary scientific discovery—a blind fish that walks

When seventh-grader Alexis catches an unusual fish that looks like a living fossil, she sets off a frenzied scientific hunt for more of its kind. Alexis and her friend Darshan join the hunt, snorkeling, sounding the depths of Glacial Lake, even observing from a helicopter and exploring a cave. All the while, they fight to keep the selfish Dr. Mertz from claiming the discovery all for himself. When Alexis follows one final hunch, she risks her life and almost loses her friend. Walking Fish is a scientific adventure that provides a perfect combination of literacy and science.

Thursday, January 2, 2025

How Do You Fill Up a Junk Journal?

Or.....I've made my junk journal, now what do I do with it?

This is the question of the day.
There's not right, no wrong.
There's just what YOU/I want to do!

Easy Ways to Use, Love and Fill a (Junk) Journal by joie de fi is short (9:49) and useful.

There's a wonderful article on House of Mahalo's website entitled "52 Junk Journal Prompts to Help You Write in Your Junk Journal" that's a terrific read full of wonderful ideas.  No, it's not a YouTube video, it's an actual article.  I think I'll go to this over and over again.  Read it here.

Wednesday, January 1, 2025

2025 Reading Goals & Book Girls Challenge

I'm looking forward to reading more historical fiction this year, and I want to amass a list of books about books and bookshops and libraries and librarians, contemporary as well as historical.

Historical Fiction Read
     1.  

The Book Girls have a challenge this year that appears to be exactly what I might be looking for!  The booklist for the month of January, "Novels with Characters Connecting Through Books," is wonderful.  It can be found here.  I think I'll list the books and check to see if I've read any/many of them....

January - Novels with Characters Connecting Through Books
     I must read one I've never read before

Henn, Carsten: The Door-to-Door Bookshop, 2020 set in Germany
Hanff, Helene: 87, Charing Cross Road 1970 - read this when I first lived in Tucson
Miller, KirstenLula Dean's Little Library of Banned Books, 2024, set in Georgia
Storey, Kate: The Memory Library, 2024, set in England and Australia
Butland, Stephanie: Found in a Bookshop, 2023, set in England
Hawkins, Karen: The Book Charmer, 2019 set in NC
Wood, Monica: How to Read a Book, 2024, set in Maine
Jaswal, Balli Kaur: Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows, 2017, set in London
McKinlay, Jenn: Love at First Book, 2024, Martha's Vineyard & Ireland
Kamali, Marjan: The Stationery Shop, 2019, set in 1953 Tehran & contemporary CA
Williams, Beatriz; Lauren Willig & Karen White: The Author's Guide to Murder, 2024, set in the Scottish Highlands
Shaffer, Mary Ann & Annie Barrows: The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, 2008, England
Lauren, Christina: Love and Other Words, 2018, set in SF & Healdsburg, CA
Zusak, Markus: The Book Thief, 2005, 1939-1954 Germany
Adams, Sara Nisha: The Reading List, 2021, set in a London suburb
Gilmore, LucyThe Library of Borrowed Hearts, set in the 1960s & present day WA
Brooks, Geraldine: People of the Book, 2008, spans decades & continents
Bradbury, Ray: Fahrenheit 451, 1953, set in future midwest
Halpern, Sue: Summer Hours at the Robbers Library, 2018, set in NH
Seierstad, Asne, The Bookseller of Kabul, 2002, set in 2000s Afghanistan
Bickers, Tessa: The Book Swap, 2024, set in England
Forest, Kristina: The Neighbor Favor, 2023, set in NYC
Colgan, Jenny: The Bookshop on the Corner,  2016, set in England & Scotland
Alexander, PoppyThe Littlest Library, 2021, set in England
Sampson, Freya: The Last Chance Library, 2021, set in England

2025 Charitable Contributions

of Steven Ted Graves....24 years without him

1/16/25  Cattail Farms - 24 cans wet cat food Amazon monthly subscription     $17.64
2/6/25  Elizabeth Warren through Act Blue    $24.00
2/11/25   Donor's Choose "Help My Students Learn to Crochet" Ms. Hurley, Pawtucket, RI  $24.00
2/11/25   Empty Bowls, CALC, Carlisle, PA to benefit Project Share (to be held March 10)   $50.00
2/14/25   The Trevor Project (in honor of Mary Graybill's birthday on 2/21)     $24.00
2/22/25  Cattail Farms - 24 cans wet cat food Amazon monthly subscription     $17.64
2/25/25   Parkinsons Foundation (In memory of Mom)      $24.00
2/25/25  Donor's Choose "Crochet for Change" Ms. Gowie, Washington DC     $24
3/2/25  Habitat for Humanity in memory of Jimmy Carter AND Steve      $24

2025 Reading


Published in the Current Year - 2025
1.  The Stolen Queen - Fiona Davis (3.75) HF
2.  The Big Empty (#20 Cole & Pike) - Robert Crais (5) Myst Series
3.  Head Cases (#1 PAR Unit/FBI) - John McMahon (4.25 )
4.  The Forest of Vanishing Stars - Kristin Harmel (4.25)

YA
1.

Middle Grade
1. The Walking Fish - Rachelle Burk (5)

Historical Fiction
1.  The Stolen Queen - Fiona Davis
2.  The Forest of Vanishing Stars - Kristin Harmel

Shorts
1.  Cut and Thirst - Margaret Atwood (4) 35 pgs.

REAL Books
1.  

eBooks
1.  The Walking Fish - Rachelle Burk

Series
1.  The Big Empty (#20 Elvis Cole & Joe Pike) - Robert Crais
2.  Deep into the Dark (#1 LA Det. Margaret Nolan) - P. J. Tracy
3.  Head Cases (#1 PAR Unit) - John McMahon

4.5 or 5 Stars
1.  The Walking Fish - Rachelle Burk
2.  The Big Empty (#20 Cole & Pike) - Robert Crais

DNF
1.  

Novels Read in 2025
January 
1.  The Walking Fish - Rachelle Burk, 2015 Kindle (5) 192 p. 1/12
2.  The Stolen Queen - Fiona Davis, 2025 Audible (3.75) 1/18
3.  The Big Empty (#20 Elvis Cole/Joe Pike) - Robert Crais, 2025 Audible (5) 1/20
4.  Blood Sisters - Vanessa Lillie, 2023 Audible (4) 1/22
5.  Deep into the Dark (#1 LA Det. Margaret Nolan) - P. J. Tracy, 2021Audible (4) 1/29
February
6.  Head Cases (#1 PAR FBI Unit) - John McMahon, Audible (4) 2/2
7.  The Return of Ellie Black - Emiko Jean, 2024 Libby (4) 2/4
8.  Cut and Thirst - Margaret Atwood, Audible (4) short story 2/8
9.  The Forest of Vanishing Stars - Kristin Harmel - 2025 Libby (4.25) 2/22
10.  The Vanishing Season - Joanna Schaffhausen (#1 Ellery Hathaway) 2017 Libby (4) 3/1
11.  Dark Storm Rising