The Dungeon Anarchist's Cookbook by Matt Dinniman

Title: The Dungeon Anarchist’s Cookbook (Dungeon Crawler Carl #3)

Author: Matt Dinniman

Publisher: Dandy House 2021

Genre: Fantasy

Pages: 534

Rating: 5/5 stars

Reading Challenges:

Welcome to the Gun Show!

The top ten list is populated. The sponsorship program is open. The difficulty is ramping up. The first three floors were nothing compared to what Carl and Donut now face.

The Iron Tangle. An impossibly-complicated subway system built out of the world's subterranean railway systems, all combined and then tied together into a knot. Up is down. Down is up. Close is far. The cars are filled with monsters, the railway stations are less than safe, and the exit is always just a few stops away.

But there is hope. For the first time, the crawlers are all working together. The loot is better than ever. And the secret to unraveling it all may be hidden in the pages of a seemingly-useless book. Welcome, crawlers. Welcome to the fourth floor of the dungeon.

Oh yes! Another crazy adventure starring Carl and Donut! This time, the floor is all about a messed-up train system complete with multiple lines, different mobs, and a larger mystery of the construction itself. I loved seeing how our character navigated this one and finally figured out that they need to make more connections amongst the other crawlers. Brandy the fire demon was a lovely addition to their encounters. And I always love the appearance of mimics (not when actually playing Dungeons & Dragons, I hate them then). But the best part of this book was the acquisition of the title object. I cannot wait to see how Carl uses the information within on future levels. As always, the audiobook is the only way to go for this book!

Dungeon Crawler Carl

#1 Dungeon Crawler Carl
#2 Carl’s Doomsday Scenario
#3 The Dungeon' Anarchist’s Cookbooks
#4 The Gate of the Feral Gods
#5 The Butcher’s Masquerade
#6 The Eye of the Bedlam Bride

Next up on the TBR pile:

Teach Me by Olivia Dade

Title: Teach Me (There’s Something About Marysburg #1)

Author: Olivia Dade

Publisher: Olivia Dade 2019

Genre: Romance

Pages: 261

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Library Love; She Reads Romance - Nerd with Glasses

Their lesson plans didn’t include love. But that’s about to change…

When Martin Krause arrives at Rose Owens’s high school, she’s determined to remain chilly with her new colleague. Unfriendly? Maybe. Understandable? Yes, since a loathsome administrator gave Rose’s beloved world history classes to Martin, knowing it would hurt her.

But keeping her distance from a man as warm and kind as Martin will prove challenging, even for a stubborn, guarded ice queen. Especially when she begins to see him for what he truly is: a man who’s never been taught his own value. Martin could use a good teacher—and luckily, Rose is the best.

Rose has her own lessons—about trust, about vulnerability, about her past—to learn. And over the course of a single school year, the two of them will find out just how hot it can get when an ice queen melts.

Overall, I really enjoyed Dade’s other series Spoiler Alert. This book didn’t quite do it for me. I wanted to like it so much especially as it featured teachers. But… I think the book spent a lot of time discussing teaching and how Rose had to present herself on the job. Too much time. I just lost interested at multiple parts of the book. And ultimately, I wasn’t super excited for the main couple like I should have been. I would have liked more scenes of them together after their first night together. Instead, we flash through time to get to the big confrontation at the end. I just wasn’t totally into it by then. I did look at the summaries for the other two books in the series and I might just try those.

There’s Something About Marysburg

#1 Teach Me
#2 40-Love
#3 Sweetest in the Gale

Next up on the TBR pile:

Damaged Goods by Talia Hibbert

Title: Damaged Goods (Ravenswood #1.5)

Author: Talia Hibbert

Publisher: Nixon House 2018

Genre: Romance

Pages: 181

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges: COYER

Spice Meter: 5

Second chances shouldn’t feel so sinful.

Laura Burne‘s husband is a monster, her diamond ring is a trap, and her pregnancy is the push she needs to finally escape. She runs away seeking safety… and finds Samir Bianchi, her long-lost teenage sweetheart.

With his kind eyes and dirty smile, Samir’s still hot as hell—and he still treats Laura like a goddess, baby bump and all. The wild boy she spent one magical summer with is every inch a man, and he’s more than ready to care for her tiny family.

But Laura’s been keeping a secret Samir might never forgive. When she finally confesses, will he remain by her side? Or is this fairytale ending too good to be true?

CW: Domestic Violence (in past, but discussed on the page)

And here we get Laura’s story as touched on very briefly in the previous book. I really wanted to love this story of empowerment and opening up to love, but ultimate, I didn’t love it. Laura is a prickly character that I really wished had sought out therapy instead of solitude. And I must say that pregnancy storylines are really not my favorite. They’re fine, but I have lots of mixed feelings about them. Samir is great and I really fell for him over the course of the novella. But their pairing just didn’t work for me. Oh well. They can’t all be winners.

Ravenswood

#1 A Girl Like Her
#1.5 Damaged Goods
#2 Untouchable
#3 That Kind of Guy

Next up on the TBR pile:

A Girl Like Her by Talia Hibbert

Title: A Girl Like Her (Ravenswood #1)

Author: Talia Hibbert

Publisher: Nixon House 2018

Genre: Romance

Pages: 288

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Library Love; She Reads Romance - Reverse Grumpy Sunshine

Spice Meter: 5

Ruth Kabbah is okay with being an outcast.

Between her autism, her comic book nerdery, and the whiff of scandal her small town can’t forget, Ruth will always be Ravenswood’s black sheep. Since she prefers silence and solitude to gossip and pub crawls, that suits her just fine—until Evan Miller comes to town.

Ex-military man Evan is gorgeous, confident… and he’s Ruth’s new neighbour. Unlike everyone else, he doesn’t seem to mind her crotchety ways or her cooking disasters. In fact, if Ruth didn’t know any better, she might think Evan likes her.

But Ruth’s been burned before, and some lessons are hard to forget.

She can’t let her guard down—no matter how many home-cooked meals Evan brings over. Because affection is temporary, trust is made to be broken, and the heat of desire is a dangerous thing to play with.

So why does this man feel so safe?

CW: Domestic Violence (in past, but discussed)

After reading the third book in this series and picking it for my book club selection, I decided to circle back around and read from the beginning. This one did not disappoint. We get a reverse grumpy sunshine trope with two seemingly different people. In fact, these two people are perfect for each other, challenging and complementing each other. Ruth is not an easy person to be with and Evan may be too easy to be with. But together, we get to see them fit together to form a great partnership. The sections detailing the domestic violence in Ruth’s past were difficult, but Hibbert always the space I needed to process it and continue to read. It helps that those conversations are not in the same chapters as the spicy scenes. I like a bit of separation. (As opposed to how my previously read book, Under Her Skin, approached the conversations.) I got to the end and had that warm and fuzzy feeling to their relationship. That’s what I want in my romance.

Ravenswood

#1 A Girl Like Her
#1.5 Damaged Goods
#2 Untouchable
#3 That Kind of Guy

Next up on the TBR pile:

The Magician by Rebecca Serle

Title: The Magician

Author: Rebecca Serle

Publisher: Amazon 2023

Genre: Speculative Fiction

Pages: 25

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges: 52 Book Club.- Magical Realism

A mother-to-be is awed by her own mother’s chaotic and unknowable approach to life and its natural mysteries in a smart, witty, and whimsical story by the New York Times bestselling author of One Italian Summer.

Growing up with an eccentric but loving mother who levitates for a living, Charlie always wondered, How does she do it? Defying gravity is no easy trick. Neither is motherhood. Now that her mother is leaving New York for bigger skies in New Mexico, it’s a new stage in life for both of them in an ever-evolving relationship that reveals the true magic of being a mother.

I was not a fan of the previous Serle book that I had read, but was intrigued by the summary of this one. Should have listened to my gut reaction and left this one unborrowed. Despite the magical realism, this is really a story of a mother and daughter going their separate ways. I didn’t love the ending and the (in my opinion) shoe-horned in magic. It just didn’t do it for me.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Signal Moon by Kate Quinn

Title: Signal Moon

Author: Kate Quinn

Publisher: Amazon 2022

Genre: Speculative Fiction

Pages: 57

Rating: 5/5 stars

Reading Challenges: COYER

Yorkshire, 1943. Lily Baines, a bright young debutante increasingly ground down by an endless war, has traded in her white gloves for a set of headphones. It’s her job to intercept enemy naval communications and send them to Bletchley Park for decryption.

One night, she picks up a transmission that isn’t code at all—it’s a cry for help.

An American ship is taking heavy fire in the North Atlantic—but no one else has reported an attack, and the information relayed by the young US officer, Matt Jackson, seems all wrong. The contact that Lily has made on the other end of the radio channel says it’s…2023.

Across an eighty-year gap, Lily and Matt must find a way to help each other: Matt to convince her that the war she’s fighting can still be won, and Lily to help him stave off the war to come. As their connection grows stronger, they both know there’s no telling when time will run out on their inexplicable link.

Do not let the short length fool you. Kate Quinn packs this short story with so much plot and characterization that you would swear that it had to be longer. But at the same time, the prose does not lag. I zipped through this story and then wished that I could turn around and read it again for the first time. With a very quick but concise setup, we are thrown into the mystery of the transmission as Lily tries to understand what she just heard. From there, we switch to Matt and piece the two storylines together. I was absolutely tearing up by end of the story. There’s a reason that Quinn is one my favorite writers.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Under Her Skin by Adriana Anders

Title: Under Her Skin

Author: Adriana Anders

Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca 2017

Genre: Romance

Pages: 344

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges: She Reads Romance - Small Town Romance; Library Love

Spice Meter: 5

His scarred hands are the gentlest I've ever known. If only life were a fairy tale where Beauty got to keep her Beast…

Every morning I wake up and remind myself I am not my past, but beneath my drab clothing hides a secret—proof of the abuse I suffered at the hands of my possessive ex, tattooed on my skin in a lurid reminder of everything I've survived. I'm alone and in hiding, trying to rebuild some semblance of a normal life. I didn't expect healing to come in the form of a rough ex-con whose rage drives him in ways I'll never understand.

Ivan's scars are on the inside—a wounded soul like me. But day by day, this gentle giant proves to me that there are second chances in life, and he deserves them as much as I do. And maybe finding each other will finally allow us to pick up our broken pieces and make something beautiful and new…

CW: Sexual and Domestic Violence (before the book begins, but discussed in detail)

This was one of the books that was on a list of older protagonists. I wanted to find an older protagonist for my book club pick. This one shuffled down the pile and I’m glad it didn’t. I ended up not loving this book very much. Sure we get an older protagonist, but it’s one that’s been on the receiving amount of a shocking amount of domestic and sexual violence. I really had to take some breaks in reading this book and even skimmed a few pages that detailed the violence. It’s a okay story with okay characters, but ultimately, I came to the end of the book hoping that Uma went to therapy instead of jumping into bed with Ivan. Seriously, consensual sex does not “fix” past trauma. I was very conflicted by the ending HEA and really wished that this had taken a much more empowering turn than it did. And the revelations from the neighbor really threw me. I do like black humor, but this seemed to be more a case of people not taking situations seriously.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Currently #1

Reading: I dove into next month’s book club selection, The Secrets We Kept by Lara Prescott, and I’m very intrigued by the Cold War historical fiction.

Watching: Somehow J and I missed S3 of Party Down when it aired back in February. We rediscovered and are working our way through.

Listening: I got fed up with my giant Apple Music shuffle. Tt would move from hard rock to classical to singer/songwriter. Sometimes I just really want to listen to more metal selection. So I made a Heavy Bangers mix to hit when that’s all I want. It was a great decision! Already loving it.

Making: I’m teaching symmetry this week in coop and I have a few projects in mind. I need to make a few examples so the kids know what they are doing.

Feeling: It’s so incredibly cold here this week. Below zero temps since last Monday, I think? Plus two snowstorms that dumped a decent amount. I’m just so cold right now.

Planning: My reading weekend is three weeks away! I’ve started the grocery list and the book selections list. My last list will be clothes and such, but that’s no fun. I’d rather contemplate what I want to eat and what I want to read.

Loving: The cold weather has me in the mood for curries and chilis. I’ve made both this week and sitting loving it!

Next up on the TBR pile:

Homeschool W17: Winter Arrived with a Vengeance

What We Studied

After a few weeks of light schoolwork and complete break, we were back at it last week with a full curriculum load. We had planned on chemistry class, a field trip, coop, and a nature hike, but the weather took a turn. Everything except for coop was cancelled due to two winter storms and below zero temps with whiteout conditions. So, I had to seriously modify our schedule and pulled in a lot more curriculum. Even with the heavier load, the boys ended up playing outside for hours most days. We are trying to enjoy the snow while it lasts.

Literature and Poetry

Arthur started one of my favorite childhood books. We should finish next week.. We also moved on to starting the next coop book club selection. Beyond the actual literature, we are working on some basic grammar skills. We finished the first Reading Explorer book which focuses on reading comprehension. He also continued his Super Secret Notebook from Blossom & Root.

From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by EL Konigsburg
The Fourteenth Goldfish by Jennifer L. Holm
Reading Explorer: Intro
My America poem collection

Quentin started a very winter themed book with me. We are pushing our Blossom and Root lessons out two weeks. He also worked on some basic grammar.

Sing a Song of Seasons
Just Beyond the Very Very Far North by Dan Bar-El
Polar Bear by Candace Fleming
Polar Bear Morning by Lauren Thompson
Polar Bear Night by Lauren Thompson
Polar Bear Postman by Seigo Kijima
Polar Bear's Underwear by Tupera Tupera
The Little Polar Bear Tales a Stand by Hans de Beer
Polar Bear Island by Lindsay Bonilla
Once Upon a Winter Day by Liza Woodruff
My Winter City by James Gladstone
Bright Winter Night by Alli Brydon
Winter is Here by Kevin Henkes

Math

Arthur started the last unit for Singapore 5A. We covered ratios this week. We will finish this unit next week and move on to 5B.

Singapore Common Core 5A
Orbiting with Logic

Quentin started Singapore 2A with a big review of numbers to 1000. We also continued our logic book.

Lollipop Logic Book 3
Singapore Common Core 2A

Social Studies

Arthur covered two weeks worth of history lessons because of our snow days. We talked about the Progressive Era reforms as well as Teddy Roosevelt and Taft.

DK American History
We were There Too! Young People in US History
Words that Build a Nation
Heart and Soul
Nat Geo Our Country’s Presidents
An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States
A Different Mirror for Young People
This is Our Land: A History of American Immigration
Wheels of Change: How Women Rode the Bicycle to Freedom
Alice Paul and the Fight for Women’s Rights
The Remarkable Rough-Riding Life of Theodore Roosevelt and the Rise of Empire America by Cheryl Harness

Quentin also covered two weeks of history with a chapter on the Hebrews and Phoenicians and a chapter on the Minoans and Mycenaeans.

History Quest Early Times
DK When on Earth?
Human Wold
DK History
DK Timelines of Everything
DK A Child Through Time
A History of Western Art
DK Science Year by Year
DK Myths, Legends, and Sacred Stories
Find the Journeys Around the World by David Long

Science

Chemistry class was canceled due to the first winter storm. Instead, we read two chapters in our Story of Science book.

RSO Chemistry
DK Super Simple Chemistry
Story of Science Vol. 2: Newton at the Center by Joy Hakim
DK The Elements

Quentin took a detour from our RSO curriculum to learn about the Arctic, Antartica, polar bears, and penguins. We talked a lot about winter and how animals survive.

The Coldest Places on Earth by Jennifer M. Besel
Plants in Winter by Jenny Fretland VanVoorst
Weather in Winter by Jenny Fretland VanVoorst
All About Winter Weather by Kathryn Clay
Why Do Bears Seep All Winter? A Book About Hibernation by Mary Englar
Polar Bears by Gail Gibbons
Nat Geo Kids: Polar Bears
Polar Bears by Valerie Bodden
Polar Bear by Dee Phillips
Do You Really Want to Meet a Polar Bear? by Marcie Aboff
Polar Bears by Elaine Landau
Polar Bear Fur Isn't White and Other Amazing Facts by Thea Feldman
The Polar Bear by Jenni Desmond
Over and Under the Snow by Kate Messner
Click Magazine: No Place Like Home
Winter Bees and Other Poems of the Cold by Joyce Sidman & Rick Allen
Frozen Wild: How Animals Survive in the Coldest Places on Earth by Jim Arnosky
Penguins by Seymour Simon
Penguins by Ann O. Squire
Penguin Chick by Betty Tatham
RSO Life
DK Oversimple Biology

STEAM Coop

Another January, another coop semester begins. It was a little touch and go for a few days as to if we would actually have coop, but the weather settled enough to get to our meeting hall. All the levels explored Geometry and Art for their first theme. I taught the oldest class and we learned about how artists use basic shapes, played the shape game, and then made collages with shapes.

Art/Music/Crafts/Cooking/Documentary

This was another area that I pulled from later weeks to take advantage of the time. We ended up covering two artists (Picasso and Chagall) and two composers (Haydn and Debussy). This will help us when we hit a week and I cannot fit in art and music.

DK Music and How it Works
DK The Arts
DK Art and How It Works
Modern Art Adventures by Maja Pitamic and Jill Laidlaw
13 American Artists Children Should Know
A Child's Introduction to Art
Women in Art by Rachel Ignotofsky
Iconic Composers by Nicholas Csicsko & Emi Ferguson
13 Art Movements Children Should Know
13 Artists Children Should Know
13 Modern Artists Children Should Know
The Story of Paintings by Mick Manning & Brita Granström
Why is Art Full of Naked People? by Susie Hodge
Just Behave, Pablo Picasso! by Jonah Winter
Pablo Picasso by Mike Venezia
Paris in the Spring with Picasso by Joan Yolleck
Papa Chagall Tell Us a Story by Laurence Anholt
Marc Chagall by Jude Welton
Through the Window: View of Marc Chagall's Life and Art by Barb Rosenstock

Field Trip

The weather cancelled our planned field trip. Thankfully we got it rescheduled for later in the month.

High

January always makes me want to hibernate. The winter storm really added to it, but I was okay with it. The boys got to spend a lot of time playing in the snow. I got to spend a lot of time reading and drinking hot tea.

Low

The schedule changes did throw me a bit, but we managed to make it through.

Next Week

Finishing our two read alouds
Covering the Spanish American War and American Imperialism
Competing our math units
Exploring some new elements on the periodic table
Easing into Greece with some myths and stories
Learning about birds for science
Hopefully heading outside for a nature walk and field trip

Next up on the TBR pile:

Music Monday - Liliac "Heaven and Hell"

Random found this band on YouTube. That voice is just absolutely amazing!

Next up on the TBR pile:

Carl's Doomsday Scenario by Matt Dinniman

Title: Carl’s Doomsday Scenario (Dungeon Crawler Carl #2)

Author: Matt Dinniman

Publisher: Dandy House 2021

Genre: Fantasy

Pages: 364

Rating: 5/5 stars

Reading Challenges:

"The training levels have concluded. Now the games may truly begin."

The ratings and views are off the chart. The fans just can't get enough. The dungeon gets more dangerous each day. But in a grinder designed to chew up and spit out crawlers by the millions, Carl and Princess Donut need to work harder than ever just to survive.

They call it the Over City. A sprawling, once-thriving metropolis devastated by a mysterious calamity. But these streets are far from abandoned. An undead circus trawls the ruins. Murdered prostitutes rain from the sky. An ancient spell is finally ready to reveal its dark purpose.

Carl still has no pants.

They call it Dungeon Crawler World. For Carl and Donut, it's anything but a game..

I think that I am officially obsessed with this series now. I can’t wait until I can sneak in another hour or two of listening to the adventures of Carl and Donut. The audio is fantastic, full of energy and personality. For this book, the game really begins with the Third Floor. We get to meet some new characters, perhaps new allies, and new enemies. The circus portions were delightfully creepy. I loved the Lovecraftian take on the horrors of the Over City. The reveal of the titular Doomsday Scenario was a great addition to leave you wondering about the next adventure. I cannot wait to see what happens on the Fourth Floor!

Dungeon Crawler Carl

#1 Dungeon Crawler Carl
#2 Carl’s Doomsday Scenario
#3 The Dungeon' Anarchist’s Cookbooks
#4 The Gate of the Feral Gods
#5 The Butcher’s Masquerade
#6 The Eye of the Bedlam Bride

Next up on the TBR pile:

Life Right Now #1

As I look outside my window: Everything is white. That last winter storm dropped a ton more snow and the wind hasn’t let up. The below zero temperatures are not helping the situation. But I can concede that all that snow is very pretty to look at.

Right now I am: Deciding what we are going to have for brunch. Sausage, eggs, and maybe banana bread?

Thinking and pondering: I’m working on the Coop Steering Committee agenda. There’s a lot of random things that I want to discuss, but I need to work on prioritizing the really important bits. My biggest question to tackle is how to have people sign up to teach next year without me losing my mind with frustration?

On my bedside table: Despite my best intentions, I have a stack of library books to read. I’m really really going to try to not put a ton more library holds on my card (exception being book club reads). I want to read more from my own Unread Shelves. But for this week, I have The Secrets We Kept by Lara Prescott and Mr. Fixer Upper by Lucy Score ready to go next. Plus I want to listen to the next Murderbot book after I finish this Carl volume.

On my tv this week: The family is continuing to watch Percy Jackson episodes as their air. We also started watching Monarch together. I started Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist (I know, I know, so late to the party) and am absolutely loving it. J and I watched a few movies and finished The White House Plumbers.

Listening to: Mostly just the adventures of Carl and Donut. Maybe I’ll go crazy today and listen to music instead…

On the menu for this week:

Monday - Spicy Black Bean Stuffed Sweet Potatoes
Tuesday - Potato Soup with Sausage
Wednesday - Buffalo Chicken Dip
Thursday - Whatever Dinner
Friday - Honey Lime Chicken with Asparagus
Saturday - Bourbon Grilled Flank Steak
Sunday - Beef and Barley Stew

On my to do list: My reading weekend is just two weeks away. I need to finalize some plans and make a packing list including a TBR for the weekend. I also need to plan my coop lesson for this week. We are covering symmetry.

Happening this week:

Monday - Chemistry Class
Tuesday - Dentist appointment for me
Wednesday - El Museo Latino field trip
Thursday - Coop; Winter HS Dance
Friday - Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company performance at The Orpheum
Saturday - Home Day
Sunday - Breakfast Club

What I am creating: I received my 2024 Memory Planner base, so I want to start on January’s pages. But I also need to start and complete my December Daily pages for 2023.

My simple pleasures: Earl Gray Tea Bread, snuggling in blankets, good television

Looking around the house: I need to do laundry today, including sheets, and I want to reorganize part of my office. Otherwise, the house looks pretty good.

From the camera: Enjoying the snow earlier this week. We have much more snow on the ground now, but the temps are below zero.

The Fortune Hunter by Daisy Goodwin

Title: The Fortune Hunter

Author: Daisy Goodwin

Publisher: St. Martin’s Press 2013

Genre: Historical Fiction

Pages: 473

Rating: 2/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Unread Shelf; In Case You Missed It - 2013

Empress Elizabeth of Austria, known as Sisi, is the Princess Diana of nineteenth-century Europe. Famously beautiful, as captured in a portrait with diamond stars in her hair, she is unfulfilled in her marriage to the older Emperor Franz Joseph. Sisi has spent years evading the stifling formality of royal life on her private train or yacht or, whenever she can, on the back of a horse.

Captain Bay Middleton is dashing, young, and the finest horseman in England. He is also impoverished, with no hope of buying the horse needed to win the Grand National—until he meets Charlotte Baird. A clever, plainspoken heiress whose money gives her a choice among suitors, Charlotte falls in love with Bay, the first man to really notice her, for his vulnerability as well as his glamour. When Sisi joins the legendary hunt organized by Earl Spencer in England, Bay is asked to guide her on the treacherous course. Their shared passion for riding leads to an infatuation that jeopardizes the growing bond between Bay and Charlotte, and threatens all of their futures.

Another absolutely disappointing book! I was hoping that we would get a glittering portrayal of the Empress of Austria complete with expansive descriptions of time and place. I wanted a more glamorous version of Downtown Abbey. Instead, we focus more on Charlotte and Bay than Sisi and plod through their ridiculous “relationship.” I was thoroughly disgusted with Bay’s treatment of both Charlotte and Sisi and could not imagine what either woman saw in him. He’s nothing special at all. He spends all his lamenting his station in life and expressing love for his horse. Why would an heiress and the Empress of Austria covet a man like that? And there’s the fact that we get little to no information about Sisi throughout the book. She has a tiny waist, likes to hunt, and has ridiculously long hair. None of those things are personality traits and definitely none of those things make her an interesting figure. I really should have just off loaded this book, but you never know until to read it. At least it’s off my shelves.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Mrs. Sherlock Holmes by Brad Ricca

Title: Mrs. Sherlock Holmes: The True Story of New York City's Greatest Female Detective and the 1917 Missing Girl Case That Captivated a Nation

Author: Brad Ricca

Publisher: St. Martin’s Press 2017

Genre: Nonfiction - True Crime

Pages: 448

Rating: 2/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Nonfiction Reader; Library Love

Mrs. Sherlock Holmes tells the true story of Mrs. Grace Humiston, the detective and lawyer who turned her back on New York society life to become one of the nation's greatest crime fighters during an era when women weren't even allowed to vote. After graduating from N.Y.U. law school, Grace opened a legal clinic in the city for low-income immigrant clients, and quickly established a reputation as a fierce, but fair lawyer who was always on the side of the disenfranchised.

Grace's motto "Justice for those of limited means" led her to strange cases all over the city, and eventually the world. From defending an innocent giant on death row to investigating an island in Arkansas with a terrible secret about slavery; from the warring halls of Congress to a crumbling medieval tower in Italy, Grace solved crimes in-between shopping at Bergdorf Goodman and being marked for death by the sinister Black Hand. She defended women clients who had killed their attackers and fought the framing of a Baltimore black man at the mercy of a corrupt police department. Known for dressing only in black, Grace was appointed the first woman U.S. district attorney in history. And when a pretty 18-year-old girl named Ruth Cruger went missing on Valentine's Day in New York, Grace took the case after the police gave up. Grace and her partner, the hard-boiled Hungarian detective Julius J. Kron, navigated a dangerous mystery of secret boyfriends, two-faced cops, underground tunnels, rumors of white slavery, and a mysterious pale man -- in a desperate race against time to save Ruth. When she solved the crime, she was made the first female consulting detective to the NYPD.

But despite her many successes in social and criminal justice, Grace began to see chilling connections in the cases she had solved, leading to a final showdown with her most fearsome adversary of all and one of the most powerful men of the twentieth century.

This is the first-ever literary biography of the singular woman the press nicknamed after fiction's greatest detective. In the narrative tradition of In Cold Blood and The Devil in the White City, her poignant story unmasks unmistakable connections between missing girls, the role of the media, and the real truth of crime stories. The great mystery of Mrs. Sherlock Holmes -- and its haunting twist ending -- is how one woman dedicated to finding the missing herself become so lost to history?

This was one giant dud of a book! I was hoping for an examination of how one of the first women detectives in the United States proved her qualifications and solved crimes. Instead, I got a jumble of book more intent on telling all the tiny irrelevant details of one particular case while alluding to others but not exploring them. We get a ton of inside information about the thoughts and feelings of a variety of people related to the missing woman’s case, but nothing from Grace. We meander around the case while dropping weird hints and observations. But we don’t really get to the point. We don’t get to place Grace in the time and geographic location. This is certainly no Erik Larson style book that connects the dots so that the audience can understanding why the story is truly groundbreaking. I wonder if this was an article and the author was pressured into padding it out to a full length book? That might explain the complete necessary information and side tangents that take up a majority of the pages.

Next up on the TBR pile:

The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden

Title: The Bear and the Nightingale (Winternight #1)

Author: Katherine Arden

Publisher: Del Rey 2017

Genre: Fantasy

Pages: 319

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges: COYER; In Case You Missed It - 2017

Winter lasts most of the year at the edge of the Russian wilderness, and in the long nights, Vasilisa and her siblings love to gather by the fire to listen to their nurse’s fairy tales. Above all, Vasya loves the story of Frost, the blue-eyed winter demon. Wise Russians fear him, for he claims unwary souls, and they honor the spirits that protect their homes from evil.

Then Vasya’s widowed father brings home a new wife from Moscow. Fiercely devout, Vasya’s stepmother forbids her family from honoring their household spirits, but Vasya fears what this may bring. And indeed, misfortune begins to stalk the village.

But Vasya’s stepmother only grows harsher, determined to remake the village to her liking and to groom her rebellious stepdaughter for marriage or a convent. As the village’s defenses weaken and evil from the forest creeps nearer, Vasilisa must call upon dangerous gifts she has long concealed—to protect her family from a threat sprung to life from her nurse’s most frightening tales.

Plodding. That’s the one word that comes to mind in attempting a review of this book. I just couldn’t seem to stay engaged in the story or the characters. Most of the characters are highly unlikeable. It doesn’t help that we really don’t get to see much of them except of glimpses through Vasya. The main character isn’t even that interesting. Most of the story is things happening to her, not her doing things. And for that, I was just not that interested in the story at all. I do like a good Russian folk tale redone, but this one was too slow and not engaging enough to make me want to read the rest of the series.

Winternight

#1 The Bear and the Nightingale
#2 The Girl in the Tower
#3 The Winter of the Witch

Next up on the TBR pile:

Do Your Worst by Rosie Danan

Title: Do Your Worst

Author: Rosie Danan

Publisher: Berkley 2023

Genre: Romance

Pages: 317

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: She Reads Romance - January (You Didn’t Get to in 2023); Library Love

Spice Meter: 5

Riley Rhodes finally has the chance to turn her family’s knack for the supernatural into a legitimate business when she’s hired to break the curse on an infamous Scottish castle. Used to working alone in her alienating occupation, she's pleasantly surprised to meet a handsome stranger upon arrival—until he tries to get her fired.

Fresh off a professional scandal, Clark Edgeware can’t allow a self-proclaimed “curse breaker” to threaten his last chance for redemption. After he fails to get Riley kicked off his survey site, he vows to avoid her. Unfortunately for him, she vows to get even.

Riley expects the curse to do her dirty work by driving Clark away, but instead, they keep finding themselves in close proximity. Too close. Turns out, the only thing they do better than fight is fool around. If they’re not careful, by the end of all this, more than the castle will end up in ruins.

Overall a cute supernaturally tinged romance featuring two opposite people. I really do love a good enemies to lovers trope and this one definitely fit the bill. Riley can be a be secretive and naive at times, but she’s a good character to root for. The scenes without Clark in them were just not as good as the ones with him in it. We needed the banter and the barbs for this story to really work and keep me engaged. There are some very spicy scenes in this one including a scene in a library. I would never desecrate a library like they do, but hey, it’s a book. The appearance of Clark’s father was very cringe-worthy, but added that extra obstacle that the story needed. Definitely a fun romp.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Share Your Stuff, I'll Go First by Laura Tremaine

Title: Share Your Stuff, I’ll Go First: 10 Questions to Take Your Friendships to the Next Level

Author: Laura Tremaine

Publisher: Zondervan 2021

Genre: Nonfiction

Pages: 224

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Unread Shelf; Nonfiction Reader

In spite of the hyper-connected culture we live in today, women still feel shamed for oversharing and being publicly vulnerable. And no matter how many friends we seem to have, many of us are still desperately lonely.

Laura Tremaine, blogger and podcaster behind 10 Things To Tell You, says it's time for something better. Openness and vulnerability are the foundation for human growth and healthy relationships, and it all starts when we share our stuff, the nitty-gritty daily details about ourselves with others. Laura has led the way in her personal life with her popular blog and podcast, and now with lighthearted self-awareness, a sensitivity to the important things in life, and compelling storytelling, Laura gives you the tools to build and deepen the conversations happening in your life.

Laura's stories about her childhood, her complicated shifts in faith and friendships, and her marriage to a Hollywood movie director will prompt you to identify the beautiful narrative and pivotal milestones of your own life. Each chapter offers intriguing and reflective questions that will reveal unique details and stories you've never thought to tell and will guide you into cultivating the authentic connection with others that only comes from sharing yourself.

This book has been sitting on my shelf for years now after reading rave reviews from my podcast community. I finally dove into this one and just felt very meh about it throughout. There’s some good questions and advice in here, but like in most self-help books, the text goes on and on. I kept getting bogged down in the repetitions and multiple scenarios detailed. I just couldn’t find myself caring much at all. Oh well. One less book on my Unread Shelf.

Next up on the TBR pile:

2024 Reading Challenges

Another year, another attempt at reading challenges. Once again, I’m going to try to complete a variety of challenges. At the same time, I really want to keep my mood reading to direct my reading. Let’s see if I can combine the two.

2024 Reading Challenges

Goodreads Challenge
UnRead Shelf Project
Kid Read Alouds
52 Book Club
She Reads Romance
COYER
Decades
Library Love
Lifetime
Nonfiction Reader
In Case You Missed It
Clock
Fairytale

Goodreads Challenge (200) - I’m sticking with my usual 200 books for this overall goal. Last year, I ended up going far past my goal and read 272 books. I don’t necessarily want to up my year goal, so I’m going to stick with 200.

UnRead Shelf (50) - My sixth year attempt to control my Unread Shelf. Let’s see if I can do a better job of it this year. I’m not going to make a Top 10 list, but I do want to read 50 books off my shelf. Currently, I have 324 books on that shelf.

Kid Read Alouds (20) - Continuing with this challenge again this year. We have some great read aloud choices for the spring semester. And I’m sure that I’ll pick some great titles for the fall semester.

52 Book Club (52) - I am often tempted by big diverse prompt challenges, but I lot I have issues with the prompts. This one seems to be more in line with how I read. And I like the one book a week idea. So I’m going to attempt this one! You can find more information at The 52 Book Club.

She Reads Romance (36) - My romance challenge from last year seems to have disappeared, so I had to chose a new one. This one has a good mix of genres and tropes to look for. You can find more information at She Reads Romance.

COYER (Clean Out Your E-Reader) (20) - Goodness knows that I have too many books on my Kindle app. It’s time to start attempting to reduce that number. More information at Because Reading.

Decades (12) - A new to me challenge from The Book Girls’ Guide. In this one, I’ll be hitting books set in different decades.

Lifetime (12) - A new to me challenge from The Book Girls’ Guide. In this one, I’ll be hitting books with characters of different ages.

In Case You Missed It (12) - A new to me challenge from The Book Girls’ Guide. In this one, I’ll be hitting books from a variety of previous published years.

Nonfiction Reader (12) - Last year, I realized that my nonfiction reading was practically nonexistent. I want to change that for 2024. So I’m joining the nonfiction book challenge hosted by Book’d Out.

Library Love (60) - Of course I’m going to sign up of a Library Book Challenge. I love using the library, so this one is going to be an easy challenge for me. This particular one is hosted by Books of My Heart.

Clock (12) - Read books with numbers 1-12 in the title. This sounded like a fun silly challenge. You can find more information at Jo Linsdell.

Fairytale Retelling (12) - I love a good fairytale retelling, so I had to join this one. You can find more information at Charity Rau.

I also decided to create my own spice meter for romance books. A 1-5 scale seemed too limiting for the types of books I read. So I expanded it to 8 levels with corresponding explanations. I will be rating all of my romance books on this new scale.

My rating system:

5 stars - loved it, will tell everyone (or almost everyone) to read it
4 stars - liked it, would recommend to certain people
3 stars - okay book, but maybe not something i would recommend, maybe not a book for me, but I see merit
2 stars - disliked it
1 star - finished the book, but hated it! will rant to anyone about why I hated this one

Timekeeper by Tara Sim

Title: Timekeeper

Author: Tara Sim

Publisher: Sky Pony Press 2016

Genre: Fantasy

Pages: 414

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Lifetime - Teenage Characters

“I was in an accident. I got out. I'm safe now.” An alternate Victorian world controlled by clock towers, where a damaged clock can fracture time—and a destroyed one can stop it completely.

A prodigy mechanic who can repair not only clockwork, but time itself, determined to rescue his father from a Stopped town.

A series of mysterious bombings that could jeopardize all of England.

A boy who would give anything to relive his past, and one who would give anything to live at all.

A romance that will shake the very foundations of time.

The first book in a dazzling new steampunk-fantasy trilogy, Timekeeper introduces a magical world of mythology and innovation that readers will never want to leave.

My mom has been wanting me to read this book for almost a year. I finally put it on my short list TBR and enjoyed it. This has a very melancholy feel to it mixed in with the fantasy and steampunk elements. I wouldn’t say that the melancholy lessened my enjoyment, but I was expecting something a bit more upbeat and glittering. Once I settled into the story, I really fell for Danny and his attempt at finding a better life for himself. Once we realize exactly who Colton is, the story kicks in and I was very interested to see where the story went. This was an intriguing story about time and love.

Timekeeper

#1 Timekeeper
#2 Chainbreaker
#3 Firestarter

Next up on the TBR pile:

2024 Goals and Resolutions

Checking in with my 2023 Goals and Resolutions

House Goals/Resolutions

Organize My Craft Room/Library ✓
Make Progress with One Home Project - Um… well house project really took a backseat to a lot of things this year.

Life Goals/Resolutions

Complete 52 Hikes - We got so close! We’re ending the year at 44 hikes. I think that’s a great number even if I didn’t hit 52.
Add More Vegetarian Dishes to Our Rotation ✓
Take Care of My Medical Issues ✓

Reading Goals/Resolutions

Read 200 Books/60,000 Books ✓
Clear Off 50 Books from My UnRead Shelf - Nope, but that’s okay.
Skip at Least 50% of BOTM Months ✓

Homeschool Goals/Resolutions

Create a Long-Term Plan for Homeschool Curriculum ✓
Continue to Organize the Coop, But Also Delegate for Growth ✓

And now on to 2024…

House Goals/Resolutions

Paint the living room (and maybe playroom) - Other projects haven’t progressed as far I had hoped, and I’m oh so sick of the walls in the living room and playroom. I convinced J to paint those two rooms at least in the spring.
Downsize the playroom - The kids aren’t playing with as many tows as they were, so I want to downsize the playroom and start the transition to study/homeschool/video game room.

Life Goals/Resolutions

Complete 52 Hikes -We’re going to attempt this one again in 2024. I’m really trying to be more and more intentional with our outside time.
Add More Vegetarian Dishes to Our Rotation - Adding this one on our resolution list again next year. It’s been a great experiment, but I want to do more.
Work on a Better Budget - I really want to retool our expenses for 2024 and work out a bitter budget.

Reading Goals/Resolutions

Read 200 Books/60,000 Books - Going with the same thing as last year.
Clear Off 50 Books from My UnRead Shelf - Going to try again.
Skip at Least 50% of BOTM Months - This was a great goal and I really did stick with it. If I’m not super excited about the selections, I’m going to skip that month.

Homeschool Goals/Resolutions

Be a Leader for the Secular Homeschool Community - I want to help others in the area lead the community of secular homeschoolers. There’s not that many of us and we should be inclusive and supportive.
Move the Coop into the Next Era - I have some dreams and plans that I would love to see come to fruition in 2024.
Complete Another Year of Homeschooling - We’ve got some great things are going and I want to keep it up in 2024.

Next up on the TBR pile: