Friday, May 17, 2024

Finally Friday - The Black Box by Michael Connelly

You can  count on Michael Connelly  to  write  a  good detective  thriller. Harry Bosch is back in The Black Box and he's trying  to  solve a twenty year old murder.  

A Danish reporter, Anneke Jespersen,  is found shot in an alley during the LA riots.  Now Bosch is working on unsolved cases and this one has bothered him forever. A gun surfaces. It's tied to some other murders. All the players seem to be united from Desert Storm. But how is Anneke connected?

Bosch has to find the "black box" - the one piece of evidence that will bring justice and closure to her murder. 

You will keep turning  the pages and rooting for Bosch to  get the  bad guys. Whew! 
 

Wednesday, May 15, 2024

Whatever Wednesday - Farewell to Childhood Home

Drove to PA in April to help clear out  the childhood home.  Sixty three years here of good memories. Here I am on the front porch.  This was tough, but my siblings and I worked together and all went smoothly.  No drama. 
This is a gorgeous dogwood  at my brother's house. PA  in spring is fabulous
In the clear out, we found the blonde doll head. My Aunt Jane had  given me her doll head named Helen.  My mom wanted my sister  to  have the blonde one, but Lori never took it. We found it amongst stuff and Lori declined it again.  I accepted her and  now  they are united in Texas.  I hope they don't join forces and come alive. Yikes!
Aah - the old  clothes basket came up from the basement one last time.  It hauled  a LOT of laundry loads upstairs and  down and out to  the clothesline.  My poor mother!
And another orphan.  "You can  take it".  "Nope,  you can."  I drew the short straw and got Charlie McCarthy.  My mom  worked  at an auction gallery a  long time ago. She came home with Charlie as a present for Lori  who was around eight years old.  Lori  found him creepy.  

Yep - we found  the box with Charlie in the basement.  I've got him in  Texas now, and I hope a friend can sell him at a toy show.  

So  - that's just a few of the farewell stories.  More  posts  to  come. 
 

Monday, May 13, 2024

Murder Mystery Monday


 Who poisoned the wealthy Emily Inglethorp and how did the murderer penetrate and escape from her locked bedroom? (cover  blurb)

In The Mysterious Affair at  Styles, Agatha Christie, once  again pulls us into small village intrigue with a unique cast of  characters led by the brilliant  detective Hercule Poirot.  There's a new husband, two stepsons, a housekeeper, and a nurse, along with a best friend, and a questionable doctor who's specialty is poisons. 

I can't say more, of  course. I am enjoying my revisit into Christie world. So darn tricky. I am fooled every time. 

Friday, May 10, 2024

Finally Friday - Tennis Anyone?


 It's finally Friday. If you are looking for some frothy frolicking fun - the movie  Challengers could heat up your life.  You don't have to know a thing  about tennis.  

Zendaya (so good, what can't  she do?)  is Tashi, a former HOT college tennis phenom. Mike Faist is Art, Tashi's husband now and struggling on the tennis circuit. She's his coach and books him in a small challenger match to boost his stats and give him a boost.  Alas, he gets to face his former best friend, Patrick - now a nemesis. 

The movie  goes back and forth in time, rather like a match. Oh, there's quite the little history triangle  with  Tashi, Art,  and Patrick. It's steamy,  seamy, and director, Luca Guadagnino, knows  how to serve up some HOT action. Slice here, some Love there. 

Game,  Set, Match - who gets burned?

 


Wednesday, May 8, 2024

Wednesday Whimsy


 "Hey, who's the new guy?"


Photo taken yesterday as I sat on the patio.  I did not even get up. Just looked up and the two doves seemed to be talking about our wacky bird sculpture. 

Happy Wednesday, everyone. 

Monday, May 6, 2024

Monday Moments - Canary Girls by Jennifer Chiaverini


 The Great War. 1914. Slowly men left Britain's factories to enlist and arsenals hired women to replace them. The slogan: Be the Girl Behind the Man Behind the Gun. 

Canary Girls by Jennifer Chiaverini is well researched historical fiction that engages the reader with a slice of history one might not know.  Former cooks, maids, shop girls, and housewives sought better wages and more independence than they ever had.  The "munitionettes" worked grueling shifts, handled explosives (TNT), and endangered their health for the sake of their nation. (cover blurb)

Identified by their yellow skin and hacking cough, the Canary Girls prove resilient in their work, friendships, lives, and play in the arsenal ladies  football  club, the Thornshire Canaries. The bosses wife joins the administration and is a staunch advocate for the ladies. 

This book is interesting  and entertaining. I cared about the ladies and their situations - worries about children at home, husbands on the front, and managing to live in tough conditions. 

Friday, May 3, 2024

Finally Friday -The Breakaway by Jennifer Weiner


 Jennifer Weiner is a reliable author and when I pick up her books, I know I'll get a good tale, an interesting character, and be entertained. The Breakaway is another  winner.

Abby Stern is thirty three, comfortable in her  plus-size skin, does gig jobs, and has a childhood sweetheart. Good friends, her bike, and a Philadelphia cycling club keep her busy. 

cover blurb: Yet Abby can't escape the feeling that something isn't right...or the memories of one thrilling night she spent with a man named Sebastian two years previously.  

Abby gets a last minute invite to lead a cycling trip from NYC to Niagara Falls - a chance to get away and think about her life.  cover  blurb - things get complicated fast. Sebastian is on the trip, and her mother Eileen (body shaming past inflictions) shows up. 

Over two weeks and seven hundred miles, strangers become friends, hidden truths come to light, a teenage girl unites riders...and Abby is forced to reconsider everything she believes about herself, her mother, and the nature of love. 

Hop aboard this bike trip and see what happens. 

Wednesday, May 1, 2024

Whatever Wednesday - The Year of Second Chances by Lara Avery


I picked up The Year of Second Chances by Lara Avery on a whim at the library. The blurb sounding in intriguing:  I read the words on my laptop screen, "Before you freak out, it's really me."

Robin Lindstrom is reading an email from her dead husband, Gabe, who signed her up for a dating app a year after he died. She's thirty three years old and has been hibernating at their old Minnesota farmhouse. 

She gives the dating  world a whirl, opens up her heart to some strangers, makes some weird friends, learns to trust the world, and still loves Gabe with all her soul. However, she knows she won't lose him.  She'll gain more in life too. 

This book is funny and poignant and Avery captures the horror of dating again, and also the opportunities to engage with others.  Can Robin emerge from her cocoon to rediscover all the messy, wonderful, horrible things in life?  

Take a chance and read this book to find out.