Happy Sunday! Deb Nance at Readerbuzz hosts The Sunday Salon, and I’m joining in! 

Weekly Reads Round Up: Sunday December 10th 2023 – Saturday December 16th 2023 

I post reviews on Instagram and Goodreads. What have you read this week? 

Not enough “sit down and read” time this week–so thankful for audiobooks!

Grave Expectations: A Mystery by Alice Bell (I listened to a copy using my library’s Libby app. This one didn’t work for me–there is a lot of millennial drinking in the middle and it got a bit old.)

It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Murder (Catering Hall Mystery #3) by Maria Dirico (‘Tis the season for cozy Christmas mysteries and I am here for it! I listened to a copy using my library’s Hoopla app.)

A Cajun Christmas Killing (Cajun Country Mystery #3) by Ellen Byron (I listened to a copy using my library’s Hoopla app. Ellen’s pen name is Maria Dirico–see book above. Very fun series, light and breezy for a busy week.) 

Veronica Ruiz Breaks the Bank: A Short Story (The Finlay Donovan Series) by Elle Cosimano (I listened to a copy using my library’s Libby app. Fun, but I wanted more humor.) 

Hopefully I’ll finish some books with my eyes this coming week! 

What I’m Reading & Listening to Now:

Reading: 

Murder Under the Mistletoe (A Jane Wunderly Mystery) by Erica Ruth Neubauer (I adore this historical mystery series–they are wonderful on audio. This is a special Christmas themed novella that a friend and I are reading and will do a book chat over the phone soon.) 

Lightlark (the Lightlark Saga Book 1) by Alex Aster (still reading this, need more sit down time to read! It is good!) 

Listening:

Legends & Lattes: A Novel of High Fantasy and Low Stakes by Travis Baldree (Loving this so far!) 

Life:

December continues to be crazy busy, but thankfully the kids only have three school days this week and then they are on break until January 3rd! Bring it on! 

This week we enjoyed my daughter’s choir and show choir concert! It was so festive. I helped my mom with a few items on her to-do list, including ordering new flooring for her kitchen and family room. I helped a friend with some wrapping this week as well. 

I’ve also been working on reading goals and challenges for 2024. My biggest goal will be to read books I own. I counted the physical books I own but haven’t read and the amount was large. I’m going to try to get that big number down to half. 

3 Good Things:

1. We saw the musical “School of Rock” on Friday night. Our daughter worked on the crew and it was so much fun! 
2. I met some librarians I used to work with for lunch this week which was also fun. I came away with several book and podcast recommendations. 
3. The dog went to the groomer’s Friday and let me tell you, we are all thankful. I know that wonderful clean dog smell only lasts so long and we are loving it while it is here! 

What I Posted Recently:

A review for a book I read earlier was published on Kings River Life News & Reviews. Check it out here:  The Red Hot Blues Chanteuse by Ana Brazil

I also posted the following on the blog this week:

Book Review: Redwood Court by DeLana R.A. Dameron

Book Review: Mercury by Amy Jo Burns

Book Review: Dying to Go (Nothing to Gush About): A Tucson Valley Retirement Community Cozy Mystery by Marcy Blesy

Wishing everyone a happy week filled with good bookish vibes!