Some Favorite Books This Week!

I’ve been having a tough time keeping up with both the reading AND posting here. While I get it all sorted out, I thought I could at least post the review links to Amazon here, so you can read them there!

By the way, the first book on the top line above is my own cookbook with recipes for side dishes you can make ahead for the holidays. I actually wrote this book and tested the recipes when I worked nightshift at a local hospital. If I can find time to cook ahead as a busy nurse, you can, too! Check out the book if you’d like to enjoy the holidays with your friends and family…and not be so stuck in the kitchen when everyone else is having fun!

The second book on the top line is also my cookbook. It has over 50 tried-and-true family-favorite Christmas cookies from home bakers all over the US and Canada… and even a few from Sweden. They were gathered when I ran recipe mailing lists at the turn of century.

Note: I am listing reviews as I do them each day. Sometimes, Amazon takes days or even a week or more to approve these reviews, so you will see a lag between when I list reviews and when a link is available. The longest I had to wait was 3.5 weeks!

Note about Goodreads and BookBub Reviews Linked Below

Sometimes, you’ll see me link to my review at Goodreads or BookBub. That’s usually because I’m having some sort of issue with Amazon: they’re taking waaaaay too long to post the review or they’ve rejected the review because they say it isn’t up to “community standards.” They are never specific… and just ask me to review the community standards page. I wish they would be specific… so I can avoid whatever it is they don’t like. Most “rejected” reviews are rather tame; some are even 5 stars. I’ve noted that some words seem to trigger it, like boring or transitioning. Hey, sometimes things just ARE boring, and it is much more succinct to say that than “visually unappealing” when talking backgrounds in children’s activity books! Others completely leave me scratching my head about what might be “wrong” with the review.

Hope that life becomes a little more sane so I can post my full reviews here soon!

Fiction

Historical Romance

The Formidable Earl by Sophie Barnes
Thawing the Viscount’s Heart by Mindy Burbidge Strunk
The Husband Hunt by Carly Larson
The Widow’s Christmas Surprise by Jenna Jaxon
Wrapped in Red by Sandra Sookoo

Contemporary Romance

The Marriage Code by Brooke Burroughs
Love and Fireworks by 5 Australian Romance Writers (including Megan Mayfair and Jayne Kingsley)

Mystery, Suspense, and Thrillers

Bloodline by Jess Lourey
Lie, Lie Again by Stacy Wise

Literary Fiction

Confessions of a Curious Bookseller by Elizabeth Green
Your Story, My Story by Connie Palmen

Children’s Fiction

A Cat Named Peanut Gets Stuck in a Shell by Jarrett Klingbeil
The Amazing World of STEM by Naeem Khari Turner-Bandele & Nathaniel A. Turner, JD, MALS (The author contacted me a week after the review was on Amazon, writing a long, rambling ad hominem attack, calling me unimaginative, uninitiated, culturally unaware, accusing me of writing a review with “novice interpretation and sentient personal biases,” and having “a vacuous and impertinent social competency.” Read my full review, with a longer update about his private screed, on Goodreads.)
Ming’s Christmas Wishes by Susan L. Gong
Julia’s House Moves On by Ben Hatke
Pups on the Run! by Hannah Hurdle
The Old Man and the Penguin by Julie Abery
Arlo & Pips: King of the Birds by Elise Gravel
Izzy in the Doghouse by Caroline Adderson
AAAlligator! by Judith Henderson
I Promise You by Marianne Richmond
A Christmas Carol (Easy Classics) by Philip Gooden