Friday Fives - These Books Will Self Destruct

I'm in a list making kind of mood so I thought I'd start making random five lists.  Sometimes they'll be bookish other weeks not so much.   There's a project I've seen on Beauty YouTube called These Projects will self-destruct where basically if you don't use a certain project by the end of the year you have to toss it.  I thought I might apply it to my TBR and pick 5 books that if I don't read in 2025 it will be time to declutter them.  These are 5 books that have been sitting on my shelf for way too long and if I'm not tempted to pick them up within a year I'm not destined to read them.

1.  Mimi Lee Gets a Clue by Jennifer J. Chow - I got this one right after it came out and though it looked really fun.

2.  Animal Magnetism by Jill Shalvis - I've read a lot of the books in this series but never this one though it's been sitting on my shelf for years.  

3.  The Murders of Mrs. Austin and Mrs. Beale by Jill McGown - I have had this book since pre-blogging days (so at least 12 years) and really enjoyed another book by this author.  Plus, it's a really short mystery.

4.  Old Haunts by E.J. Copperman - This is the third book in a series and I own a lot of the books.  I read and really enjoyed the first book, read and liked the second book but years have passed and I still haven't read this book.  It's time to read it and see if it's one I want to continue or clear out the books.  And if I don't read it then I think that pretty much answers the question on whether I want to read it.

5.  Coming Home to the Comfort Food Cafe by Debbie Johnson - I have no idea where this book came from or how long I've had it.  It looks lovely and cozy though.

So those are my 5 books to read this year or they'll self-destruct (or go into the bin for the used bookstore more likely).  Do you have any self destruct books?

Books from the Backlog - Grave Reservations

 

Today I'm linking up with Carole from Carole's Random Life of Books for Books from the Backlog.  I really enjoy the chance to feature a book that's been hiding in the piles of books for far too long!

Goodreads:  Grave Reservations by Cherie Priest

Blurb:  A psychic travel agent and a Seattle PD detective solve a murder in this quirky mystery in the vein of Lisa Lutz’s The Spellman Files and Charlaine Harris’s Aurora Teagarden series.
Meet Leda devoted friend, struggling travel agent, and inconsistent psychic. When Leda, sole proprietor of Foley's Flights of Fancy, impulsively re-books Seattle PD detective Grady Merritt’s flight, her life changes in ways she couldn’t have predicted.

After watching his original plane blow up from the safety of the airport, Grady realizes that Leda’s special abilities could help him with a cold case he just can’t crack.

Despite her scattershot premonitions, she agrees for a secret her fiancé’s murder remains unsolved. Leda’s psychic abilities couldn’t help the case several years before, but she’s been honing her skills and drawing a crowd at her favorite bar’s open-mic nights, where she performs Klairvoyant Karaoke—singing whatever song comes to mind when she holds people’s personal effects. Now joined by a rag-tag group of bar patrons and pals alike, Leda and Grady set out to catch a killer—and learn how the two cases that haunt them have more in common than they ever suspected.

Why It Needs to Come Off the Shelf: This looks fun and fast paced and January seems to demand that kind of book. 

Haunting and Homicide - Cozy Mystery Review

Goodreads:  Haunting and Homicide (A Ghost Tour Mystery #1) by Ava Burke

Rating: Really Liked It (4 Stars)
Source:   Publisher

Description:  Tallulah “Lou” Thatcher has a she can see dead people. But in New Orleans, Louisiana, this is not a drawback. On the contrary, her ability to see ghosts helps her host viral ghost tours through the historic Garden District. When rival tour guide Adam Brandt–who accused her of faking her encounters to undercut his business–is found murdered, Lou is the only one who can see him . . . his ghost, that is.

It’s no secret Adam and Lou were feuding and with the absence of a suspect, she’s the only one with a clear motive. After detective Dylan Finch, Lou’s longtime crush, reveals the murder weapon was a ceremonial dagger from Lou’s shop, she’s officially declared the prime suspect. Determined to prove her innocence, Lou starts investigating right away.

Weaving her way through Adam’s business partnerships, friendships, and kinships, Lou must uncover who wished to see him dead before the killer tries to silence her forever.

Genre:  Mystery - Cozy

Why I Picked This Book:  A cozy mystery set in New Orleans with ghosts sounds like too much fun to pass up.

My Impression:  Growing up I spent a lot of time during the summer in New Orleans and in 20219 we lived in New Orleans for about 5 months and spent a lot of time in the area that this book takes place.   I was so pleased to virtually visit New Orleans that it probably raised my rating from 3.5 stars to 4 stars.  

The setup was a little slow and it took a few chapters for me to warm to the execution of the premise and completely get hooked by the story.  Adam is pretty terrible at first and Lou is not a natural at the investigative business.  However, as the story went on I really began to enjoy it.  I really love the side characters especially Lou's  grandmother and her boyfriend.  This is a fun take on a ghost tour which is big business in New Orleans and really helps set the scene.  

The mystery was good and kept me guessing and the romantic angle (very minor) didn't go the way I expected which I liked.  I'm hoping the world around the murder will be more fleshed out as the series continues and that we can meet more ghosts and learn their backstories - but not lose Mamie!  

Would I Read More of this Series/Author? Absolutely!  I'm really curious to see how this series develops.

Would I Recommend this Book?   If you enjoy cozy mysteries and like a good helping of ghosts then I think you will enjoy this start of a new series.

* I received this book in exchange for an honest review.  As always my opinions and impressions are completely my own. *

Top Ten Tuesday - My Reading Goals for 2025

Today I'm linking up with Top Ten Tuesday hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl which is all about lists.  Since lists are one of my favorite things this is one of my favorite linkups!  Today's topic is My Bookish Reading Goals for 2025.

1.  Read 200 Books - I've done this the last two years and I'm starting this year off strong.  I have a long list of books to tackle and hopefully I can make some real progress this year!

2.  Complete the Read Christie Challenge - I did this in 2024 for the first time and it was so fun!  The theme this year is professions and the books chosen are a good mix of Christie books - some I've read a number of times and others I've kind of forgotten about.

3.  Complete my 2025 Priority List - I picked 5 books from my shelves and 5 books from the library that I really want to read.  I've done this the last two years and have really enjoyed it.  I'm super excited about my book picks this year.

4.  Complete my Authors I Plan to Read in 2025 list - Last year I picked 10 authors I kept meaning to read but never did.  It was so fun I picked 10 more and am so looking forward to reading this new list.

5.  Read my Classics List - I love Agatha Christie but there are a lot of classic mystery authors out there that I have yet to read and this is a good way to do it. 

6.  Make progress on 10 series - I read a lot of cozy mysteries and where there are cozies there are series and it is so easy to neglect them!

7.  Read 5 Overdue Review Books - I have so many overdue reviews on NetGalley and I'm trying to slowly chip away at it.

8.  Read 5 Nonfiction Books - I read a lot of mysteries and cozy books so I like to throw in some nonfiction here are there.

9.  Finish All of My 2025 ARCs - In the past I've gotten way more ARCs then I can realistically read in a year and I'm trying to make sure I don't add to that list of overdue reviews this year.

10.  Get My TBR Jar Updated (and use it at least twice) - I got a TBR jar setup last year but since then I've gotten rid of some books, the library has gotten rid of some books and I've added a ton of books to my TBR.  I need to update it and then pick at least two books to read using the TBR jar.

What are your reading goals for 2025?

  

Authors I've Been Meaning to Read - Winter Garden by Kristin Hannah

At the beginning of the year, I made a list of authors that I've been saying I need to read and commit to reading at least one book by each of the authors in 2024.  Here's my thoughts on one of those books/authors.

Goodreads:  Winter Garden by Kristin Hannah

Blurb:  Meredith and Nina Whitson are as different as sisters can be. One stayed at home to raise her children and manage the family apple orchard; the other followed a dream and traveled the world to become a famous photojournalist. But when their beloved father falls ill, Meredith and Nina find themselves together again, standing alongside their cold, disapproving mother, Anya, who even now, offers no comfort to her daughters. As children, the only connection between them was the Russian fairy tale Anya sometimes told the girls at night. On his deathbed, their father extracts a promise from the women in his life: the fairy tale will be told one last time—and all the way to the end. Thus begins an unexpected journey into the truth of Anya's life in war-torn Leningrad, more than five decades ago. Alternating between the past and present, Meredith and Nina will finally hear the singular, harrowing story of their mother's life, and what they learn is a secret so terrible and terrifying that it will shake the very foundation of their family and change who they believe they are.

My Thoughts:  I have finally read a Kristin Hannah book!  Hannah has been on my TBR for probably a decade, but I've always been scared off by the intensity of her books.  I heard great things about the narrator for this one, so I picked it up on an Audible sale and finally listened to it at the end of 2024.  And I liked it.  The beginning was pretty slow, but I did connect with Meredith (even though I frequently wanted to shake her) and I felt invested in the story of the two sisters getting to know their formable and distant mother.  Once the fairy tale really got started, I was pulled in completely and guessed the twist before Nina and Meredith.  The story is absolutely heartbreaking, and I can't think I've ever read any historical fiction set during this period of time or this location.  I'm still not sure how I felt about the ending though I did love the epilogue. Kristin Hannah isn't a must read for me but I will definitely read another book by her.  My Rating: Really Liked It (4 Stars)

This Week in Reading - January 12

It's Sunday Post time!  This is hosted by the awesome Caffeinated Book Reviewer and gives us all a chance to recap our week.

What I Got:

The Guest Cottage by Lori Foster (Publisher) - I picked this one up on a whim.  The premise looks wonderful, and I love the cover.

Currently:

Reading:  A Death in Diamonds by S.J. Bennett and Long Time Gone by Charlie Donlea

Listening:  Life and Other Inconveniences by Kristan Higgins

Slow Read:  Still reading The Comfort Food Diaries by Emily Nunn.  I'm glad I'm reading it in small doses as I'm finding it interesting but the narrator is not someone I'd like to spend a lot of time with.

How I made this week a little cozy - One of my goals for the year is to get through all my cookbooks so I've been picking a few everyday and flipping through them while watching an episode of Who Do You Think You Are (a genealogy show that has a number of its episodes on YouTube - the UK ones are my favorite) and drinking either coffee or herbal tea.  On Thursday while Will had climbing lessons I went to a nearby French/Japanese bakery and had a Yuzu pastry and a lemonade matcha and it was delightful.

This week was back to the real world for me.  Dog classes started both for the ones I teach and for the ones I attend.  I'm excited by the progress that Rover and I are making in class and I'm excited to start working with a new group of people and their pups.  We also had snow on Friday.  It's mostly a slushy mess today and hopefully will all go away in the next few days.  Friday it was really pretty but I'm glad I don't live where snow is a regular occurrence!  

How is your week going?  Have  agreat week and happy reading!

Reading in 2024 in Review

 

Total Number of Books Read:  219 - Less than last year but not bad overall - especially considering my reading goal was 200.

Reading Breakdown:

Print:  69 

Ebook: 68 - this surprised me.  I would have expected to have read more ebooks than print

Audiobooks:  82

Genres:

Mystery:  156 - The genre winner by far which is not a surprise

Romance:  21

Fiction (This includes Middle Grade and Fantasy) - 33

Nonfiction:  9

Monthly Favorites:

These were my favorite books month to month.  I don't worry about when they were published but I don't count rereads.  They also didn't all make my favorite books of the year though they were books I enjoyed the most during that month of reading. 

None of This is True by Lisa Jewell 

Nine Lives by Peter Swanson

The Bookish Life of Nina Hill by Abbi Waxman

The Lantern's Dance by Laurie R. King

Assistant to the Villian by Hannah Nicole Maehrer

Homecoming by Kate Morton

Just the Nicest Couple by Mary Kubica

The Summer Swap by Sarah Morgan

Murder in Rose Hill by Victoria Thompson

The Grace of Wild Things by Heather Fawcett

Mind Games by Nora Roberts

A Murder at Half Moon Gate by Andrea Penrose

Nights of Rain and Stars by Maeve Binchy

The Lights of Sugarberry Cove by Heather Webber

Murder with Puffins by Donna Andrews

15 Summers Later by RaeAnne Thayne

The Body in the Bookstore by Ellie Alexander

Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson

Between a Rock and a Hard Place by Donna Andrews 

The Rose Arbor by Rhys Bowen

Haunted Ever After by Jen DeLuca 

Sticks and Scones by Ellie Alexander

Rockin' Around the Chickadee by Donna Andrews

The Mirror by Nora Roberts

Overture to Death by Ngaio Marsh

The Family Vault by Charlotte MacLeod

Armchair Travel for 2024

Domestic:  Weirdly I didn't visit Louisiana which is a state I usually visit several times over.  I did go to Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin.  All in all not too bad but I would like to get a few more states in next year.

International:  I visited England during multiple time periods quite a bit as well as Scotland.  I also visited France, Australia, Canada, Syria (1920s), Switzerland, Germany, Greece, a Trans-Atlantic voyage on the Lusitania, Singapore, and Russia.  Not a bad list though I'm surprised I didn't visit Ireland.  I'll have to fix that in 2025.

Where did your reading in 2024 take you?  Where are you hoping to visit in 2025?  What were some of your favorite books?