Monthly Reading Recap - August 2025

Monthly Reading Total: 17 - I feel like I'm slowly getting back into my reading groove which is nice.  I've missed being able to sink into a book.

Type:

Print: 7

Ebook:  5

Audio: 5

Genre:

Mystery - 10

Fiction - 3

Romance - 1

Nonfiction: 3

Favorite Books of the Month:

The Rom-Commers by Katherine Center - This was absolutely adorable and such a good listen.  I'm looking forward to reading more from this author.

For Duck's Sake by Donna Andrews - This cozy mystery series is bonkers in the best way and this was a fun addition.

Bookish Armchair Travel

Domestic: I visited Idaho and Georgia for the first time this month and revisited Virginia (twice), California (three times), New York, North Carolina, and Ohio

International Travel: I visited England (three times), Ireland, and France

How was your reading in August?  Where did your books take you?

Friday Fives - September TBR

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. Since this is the first Friday in September I'm planning my September TBR.

1.  Ghost Business Jen DeLuca - I enjoyed the first book in this series and am looking forward to seeing how what happens next on Boneyard Key.

2.  Heir and Graces by Rhys Bowen - This is the next in the Royal Spyness series.

3.  Wild Ride by Hayley Arceneaux - This has been on my Priority Reads list and since September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month this seems like the time time to read it.

4.  Every Single Secret by Christina Dodd - This is a fun romantic suspense series and this should be a nice bit of escapist reading.

5.  The Collector's Apprentice by B.A. Shapiro - The blurb on this one caught my eye literally years ago so I snapped it up and then let it sit on my shelves.

What are you planning on reading this month?

Books from the Backlog - Year One

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:  Year One by Nora Roberts

Blurb:   The sickness came on suddenly, and spread quickly. The fear spread even faster. Within weeks, everything people counted on began to fail them. The electrical grid sputtered; law and government collapsed--and more than half of the world's population was decimated.
Where there had been order, there was now chaos. And as the power of science and technology receded, magic rose up in its place. Some of it is good, like the witchcraft worked by Lana Bingham, practicing in the loft apartment she shares with her lover, Max. Some of it is unimaginably evil, and it can lurk anywhere, around a corner, in fetid tunnels beneath the river--or in the ones you know and love the most.

As word spreads that neither the immune nor the gifted are safe from the authorities who patrol the ravaged streets, and with nothing left to count on but each other, Lana and Max make their way out of a wrecked New York City. At the same time, other travelers are heading west too, into a new frontier. Chuck, a tech genius trying to hack his way through a world gone offline. Arlys, a journalist who has lost her audience but uses pen and paper to record the truth. Fred, her young colleague, possessed of burgeoning abilities and an optimism that seems out of place in this bleak landscape. And Rachel and Jonah, a resourceful doctor and a paramedic who fend off despair with their determination to keep a young mother and three infants in their care alive.

In a world of survivors where every stranger encountered could be either a savage or a savior, none of them knows exactly where they are heading, or why. But a purpose awaits them that will shape their lives and the lives of all those who remain.

The end has come. The beginning comes next.

Why It Needs to Come Off the Shelf:  I skipped this one when it came but I've read several of Roberts more fantasy/paranormal books lately and enjoyed them.  I feel like I need to give this trilogy a try.

Reading For Fun - The Kamogawa Food Detectives

The last few years I've made a list of 10 books - 5 books off my shelf, 5 books from the library - that I'm really wanting to read.  There's no real rhyme or reason.  I just go through my library list and my shelves and pick the books that are calling to me.  Here is one that I've read recently.

Goodreads:  The Kamogawa Food Detectives by Hisashi Kashiwai

Blurb:  What’s the one dish you’d do anything to taste just one more time?
Down a quiet backstreet in Kyoto exists a very special restaurant. Run by Koishi Kamogawa and her father Nagare, the Kamogawa Diner serves up deliciously extravagant meals. But that’s not the main reason customers stop by . . .

The father-daughter duo are ‘food detectives’. Through ingenious investigations, they are able to recreate dishes from a person’s treasured memories – dishes that may well hold the keys to their forgotten past and future happiness. The restaurant of lost recipes provides a link to vanished moments, creating a present full of possibility.

My Thoughts: This was a lovely read.  I really enjoy this format of essentially connected short stories with the same "food detectives" and setting but a different main character with their own story.  I found the details of the food fascinating but not as fascinating as the details of the investigation - and why this particular person wanted this particular dish.  This was a quiet read that I really enjoyed and am looking forward to reading more from this author.  My Rating: Loved It (4.75 Stars)

Top Ten Tuesday - Ten Books with Occupations in the Title

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 Books with Occupations in the Title.   This was hard!  I had to search through all my booklists to find ten titles.

1.  The Last Bookaneer by Matthew Pearl -  While not complimentary a bookaneer was actually what the called book pirates and forgers in the nineteenth century which I found really interesting.

2.  The Coroner by Jennifer Dombush 

3.  Radio Girls by Sarah Jane Stratford

4.  A Nun in the Closet by Dorothy Gilman 

5.  The Winemaker's Wife by Kristin Harmel

6.  The Thief Knot by Kate Milford

7.  The Postmistress of Paris by Meg Waite Clayton

8.  The Cartographer's Secret by Tea Cooper

9.  The Housekeepers by Alex Hay

10. The Author's Guide to Murder by Beatriz Williams 

Do you have books on your shelf or on your TBR with occupations in the title?

Death in the Countryside - Cozy Mystery Review

Goodreads: Death in the Countryside by Maira Malone

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

Description:  Sergeant Ali Wren has recently returned to her charming Yorkshire hometown of Heft, accompanied by her trusty canine companion Officer PD Wilson, a Springer Spaniel with a nose for trouble. Together they are the police force quietly serving the town.

When Brian, an older resident, reports his wife, Melody, missing, Ali at first suspects a routine case. Melody, tired of playing dutiful wife to an inattentive husband, may simply have left. But suspicion soon begins to mount when it emerges that Brian’s first wife died under tragic circumstances and Ali uncovers evidence of Melody’s recent puzzling behavior.

Genre: Mystery 

Why I Picked This Book:   Honestly, the dog on the cover completely sold it and I can't resist the first book in a new mystery series.

My Impression:  I thoroughly enjoyed this read.  It's somewhere between a cozy and a straightforward mystery with a small-town police officer and her working dog Wilson.  There was a certain old-fashioned flavor to this one that reminded me a little of Agatha Christie or Ngaio Marsh with a lot of village business and a slow reveal of the mystery. 

Ali has quite a lot going on.  She's the sole police officer in a little town where the residents don't have many boundaries when it comes to involving her in their squabbles.  With all of that she's pulled in a million different directions all the time.  When Brian, an older reserved resident reports his wife, Melody, missing Ali at first dismisses it as a woman running from a bat situation.  But as the investigation continues the clues seem to be pointing in two separate directions and Ali suspects there are things that Brian isn't telling her.

This was a solid mystery with a likable main character and a fabulous dog sidekick.  It's not the fastest paced read but I enjoyed the slower unraveling that reminded me a bit of the classic mysteries I really love.  I'm looking forward to reading more from this author.

Would I Read More of this Series/Author?  Absolutely!  This was just a delight and I'm looking forward to reading more from this author.

Would I Recommend this Book?   If you enjoy the classic mystery feel this is a must read.

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

One, Two, Buckle My Shoe - Classic Mystery Review

Goodreads: One, Two, Buckle My Shoe by Agatha Christie

Rating:  Really Liked It! (4.5 Stars)
Source:   Publisher

Description:  Even the great detective Hercule Poirot harbored a deep and abiding fear of the dentist, so it was with some trepidation that he arrived at the celebrated Dr. Morley’s surgery for a dental examination. But what neither of them knew was that only hours later Poirot would be back to examine the dentist, found dead in his own surgery.

Turning to the other patients for answers, Poirot finds other, darker, questions.…

Also, published as The Patriotic Murders and An Overdose of Death

Genre: Mystery - Classic 

Why I Picked This Book:  This was the August pick for the Read Christie 2025 Challenge

My Impression:  This is one of those Christie hidden gems.  It's not a book that gets a lot of attention and it isn't one I remember when listing my favorite Christie books.  When I saw this one on the list I couldn't even remember which one it is (I always get it confused with another nursery rhyme title - Pocket Full of Rye).  

When I picked this one I was quickly pulled in as a number of very different characters prepare to go to the dentist.  The mystery unravels pretty quickly and I flew through this book.  I really enjoyed Christie's twists and turns and her clever little plot points.  I wasn't sure just how the book would turn out until the very end and I had all kinds of theories.  

This is an interesting lesser known Christie with some good twists and an interesting ending.

Would I Read More of this Series/Author?   Absolutely!  Christie is one of my favorite authors and I'm already looking forward to the September Read Christie book.

Would I Recommend this Book?  I would!  This is an interesting mystery with a cleverly intricate plot.