The Husbands

By Holly Gramazio

338 pages

Hardback

Library 

This one was recommended at our English Department Chairs meeting, and it sounded fun. I put it on hold at the library, picked it up on the last possible day, ignored it for at least a week, then picked it up and devoured it in 2 days. 

I don't know. My taste is definitely going through a shift. I read all of the Way of Kings novels, re-read Sense and Sensibility (but haven't seen the new movie yet), and am also in the middle of a Hobbit & Lord of the Rings re-read and re-watch. 

I picked up one of my unread Owlcrate books before this one, but just wasn't really feeling it. 

This, though, was funny. Kind of a humorous Sliding Doors situation. I kept reading lines out loud to my own husband and he also patiently listened to me explaining things that were happening in the book. 

I was really concerned about how it was going to end, but it did not betray me. 

As a side note, I love the Public Library. I also enjoyed that they told me I was okay. Affirmations are nice. 

red velvet cookie attempt

My child asked for Red Velvet cookies as a snack for having friends over to watch a horror movie. The RED is an important part here. You know, like blood. 

So I did the thing where I didn't really follow the recipe and am now disappointed. At least I'm self aware? 

I didn't have a printed recipe in any of my cook books - not even the ones which are expressly just cookies. 

So I browsed recipes online. One with high ratings and good reviews was essentially a chocolate cookie recipe I've had for a long time, but with red. It suggested liquid dye, gel, or beet root powder. I thought that sounded fun, so I ordered the powder. And asked my husband to pick up white baking chips from the store.

I used margarine, set in the bowl overnight. I used the cocoa powder substitution for baking chocolate, as I've always done. No buttermilk, so I used coconut milk rather than water. Put in the beet powder with the flour. Hand stirred the "white cream morsels" in at the end. 

Used the little scoop tool to plop them on the baking tray. 

They needed the full 10 minutes. See this one? I tried to take them out at 8 minutes and it was NOT ready. 

They taste good. Cookies a success, but red velvet they are not. 

The God of the Woods

By Liz Moore

476 pages

Mystery

A mystery spanning the 1950s - 1970s, set at a bushcraft summer camp. 

The two mysteries and timelines are layered with each other. 

I did not fully expect the resolution to the chronologically earlier mystery, although I did start to suspect it about 3/4 of the way through the novel. However I'd also thought that there was another possible perpetrator. I didn't buy the solution that seemed the most obvious, however. 

I was somehow less curious about the second mystery, but I did appreciate the resolution of that one too. 

At first I had trouble getting into the book, but I was pretty invested before I was 100 pages in. But then I didn't want to finish it! I just didn't want it to be over so I kept putting it down. 

I loved this bit with the allusions:

I also really liked this bit about relationships:

Overall, a great book.

Author info:

The Bone Thief

By Vanessa Lillie

Hawthorne Legacy trilogy

Recent Reads

Luminaries, Onyx Storm, House in the Cerulean Sea, Where the Library Hides, To Shatter the Night

Rating: meh. Predictable sometimes, bizarre others. What is up with her teeth clicking. Ughggh.

Rating: Ugh. Book 3 of... 5? I liked the first book mostly, but I have trouble with a series. I was just so irritated a so many things about this novel. 

Rating: Charming. I enjoyed this one a lot. I'm glad it can stand alone; however, I do believe there is another book that's at least in the same world if not with the same characters. It was funny, and sad, and wonderfully written. 

Rating: good! The second in a duology. I really liked it and wanted to keep reading it. A few character choices were unbelievable. A few twists were predictable, but others were not. Worth reading this pair!

Rating: meh. Second in a duology? Or are there going to be more? I just didn't care. And there were things that didn't make sense. And stop saying "my girl." Ugh.

Project Hail Mary

By Andy Weir

476 pages

Sci-Fi

I picked this up when I took my classes up to the school library. I liked The Martian and it caught my eye. Wow, this was a great book. 

It was my book I was reading at school, but I brought it home this weekend because I just didn't want to out it down. 

It was interesting, and it was funny. 

Loved it.