My Two Blessings

  For the month of June I ended up reading 10 books in which 3 were new, 1 was a known to me author, and the rest were rereads for a total of 3638 pages.  Breaking the Dark by Lisa Jewel (360 Pages) is a Jessica Jones Marvel Crime Novel published in 2024 which was a modern day Dorian Grey tale and Jessica is a downtrodden detective with so so powers and never uses them to solve the crime.  2 stars as it failed to live up to expectations Swan Song by Elin Hilderbrand, the 4th book in the Nantucket trilogy which James picked up for me at Target on a whim.  It's the last book in the series which was full of back tory, an unknown narrator, a new couple trying to bilk every one for money and things, thinking they could get away with it. The ending was very anticlimatic.  2 stars as it failed to live up to expectations. Unlikely Story by Ali Rosen (306), published this year. Ali's in love with J, her editor, who she's never met. She also has a contentious relations...

  Welp! I usually enjoy Emily Henry's books but this one. Oh boy! A dysfunctional woman with a dysfunctional family and life and history invite two more dysfunctional writers to interview her about her life, pitting the two against each other. And wouldn't you know it, they fall into a dysfunctional relationship along the way.  There are many secrets and lies. What is the truth. I didn't like any of the characters. There was much to do about nothing.  To sooth my reading palate, I resorted to rereading my favorite author Nora Roberts with the Three Sisters Trilogy as well as the Born in trilogy.  

  Happy Father's Day to my hubby, dad, my brother's in laws and all the dads out there.  I unfortunately didn't get to any of the Wuxia reads. One author I really have enjoyed and learned much from is Qiu Xiaolong, author of the inspector detective Chen Cao who is a homicide detective in the Shanghai Special Cases Bureau in China. Inspector Chen Cao was introduced with the publication of Death of a Red Heroine in 2000. Set in the mid 1990’s in China, it was a police procedural blending fact and fiction delving into the politics and culture of the country. The character is in his early thirties and also writes poetry and works as a translator. Inspector Chen must navigate his way through government politics while trying to solve murders. The 13th book in the series Love and Murder in the Time of Covid was released in 2023. His latest stories are a duology series which takes place in seventh century China called the Judge Dee Investigations. The first book Shadow of the Empir...

I’m currently reading two flufferton books:  Ebook Unlikely Story by Ali Rosen and Swan Song by Elin Hilderbrand which James picked out for me the other day when we were at Target. It’s #4 in the Nantucket series so have no idea who most of the characters are, but oh well! “Chief of Police Ed Kapenash is about to retire. Blond Sharon is going through a divorce. But when a 22-million-dollar summer home is purchased by the mysterious Richardsons—how did they make their money, exactly?—Ed, Sharon, and everyone in the community are swept up in high drama. The Richardsons throw lavish parties, flirt with multiple locals, flaunt their wealth with not one but two yachts, and raise impossible hopes of everyone they meet. When their house burns to the ground and their most essential employee goes missing, the entire island is up in arms.”  This week our 52 Books Bingo category is Wuxia which is historical fiction stories in which the characters use traditional Chinese martial ar...

  Our 52 Books dragon of the month is Saphira from Christopher Paolini‘s Eragon. I happily supported the Saphira Figurine kickstarter campaign last year and look forward to receiving a collectable figurine of Saphira when it’s ready. I finished Breaking the Dark (jessica Jones crime novel) by Lisa Jewell which was mediocre at best, writing and story wise.  She hardly used her powers and most of her decisions were really dumb. James asked if it kicked a&% and I shared there wasn’t much kick a*& in the story. Also finished Nora Roberts newest Hidden Nature in which the villains were creepy and the reader knew from the start what they were doing, so the reader got to be involved not only with them, but  how the main character went about figuring out the mystery, in the midst of a lot of remodeling house talk. On the nightstand is Guys Write for Guys Read: Edited by Jon Scieszka “What is a typical guy moment, anyhow? Daniel Pinkwater remembers the disappointment of me...