This Week in Reading: June 7

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:

I'm doing pretty well staying off of NetGalley a bit more and only have 2 new books.  1 of those is actually one I requested a month or more ago!

Murder at Barclay Meadow by Wendy Sand Eckel - There's an old house, a woman trying to find her way and a murder.  I'm excited! (NetGalley)

Second Chance Summer by Jill Shalvis - I'm not even 100% sure what this is about but it's the new Jill Shalvis and it's the beginning of a new series.  (NetGalley)

Currently:

Reading: Recipes for a Beautiful Life by Rebecca Barry and Tribute by Nora Roberts

Listening: Still nothing but I'm not really expecting to until school starts back

Watching:  I'm still watching and loving Murder She Wrote on Netflix and J and I are watching some movies we'd recorded.  We've got Annabel which I'm almost scared to watch and This is Where I Leave You which I've heard good things about.

Off the Blog:

The Tornado and I have been hiking non-stop.  I took him to a nature preserve near our house just as kind of an experiment Wednesday and we spent Thursday and Friday hiking different trails by his request.  The really great thing is that he seems to be blowing through energy because he's started sleeping much later!  

I'm kind of in a weird spot right now reading-wise.  It's not really a reading rut because I want to read and I'm actually enjoying what I'm reading it's just that I can't get settled on a book.  It kind of feels like the bookish equivalent of tossing and turning in bed when you're tired.  I've started and put down about 9 books so far.  I'm hoping I find something that sticks soon!

On the Blog:

What Happened:

Monday:  Trust No One - Romantic Suspense Review
Tuesday: Top Ten Books I'd Like to See as Movies or TV Shows
Wednesday: A Watery Death - Paranormal Cozy Mystery Review and Giveaway
Thursday: Hyperbole and a Half - Nonfiction Review
Friday: Friday Linkups featuring Alice in Wonderland
Saturday: Donna Bell's Bake Shop Recipe for Banana Scones with Orange Glaze

What's Coming Up:

Monday: Haunted Plantations of the South Review

Tuesday: Top Ten Tuesday - Top Ten Most Anticipated Releases for the Rest of 2015

Wednesday: TBD

Thursday: TBD

Friday: Friday Linkups + Current Book

Saturday: Recipes for a Beautiful Life

Have a great week and happy reading!

Donna Bell's Bake Shop and Cooking Ruts

I've been a big fan of NCIS since close to the beginning and have probably watched every episode in the first 5 seasons 3 or 4 times each.  While Gibbs and McGee are my favorite characters Abby is always entertaining.  I love that they made her more than just a caricature and I keep hoping to hear more about the subplot regarding her brother.

So when I hard that Pauley Perrette had a cookbook coming out with her friends and business partners, Darren Greenblatt and Matthew Sandusky, it immediately went on my wishlist.

And for my birthday I got a nice shiny copy of Donna Bell's Bake Shop.  It's beautiful with lots of photographs and bunches of personal stories.  The recipes are plentiful and varied with a handful of savory mixed in with the sweet.

I got this book at the beginning of May and it's now the beginning of June and I have made nothing from the book.  Not one thing.  Because soon after I got this book the dreaded cooking rut struck.  While not quite as bad as the feared reading rut it's still not much fun.  The cooking rut shows up every year around this time and I've yet to figure out a way to fight it.  I just don't want to cook.  I'm not interested.  I don't want to spend the time.  Nothing looks good.  Everyone's schedules are busy and there's so much more time that gets spent outside.  When you've been outside in 90+ temps with high humidity the last thing you want to do is spend the next hour or two cooking.  Or at least I don't.  But I'm starting to get bored with my rut and I'm starting to really miss baking so I picked up Donna Bell again and found a recipe that might just break me out of that rut.

Banana Scones with Orange Glaze.  The bananas are warm and comforting while the orange provides a nice hit of freshness.  Plus the recipe looks fairly simple:

4 cups all purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup cold unsalted butter, cut into very small pieces
3/4 cup whole milk
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
1/2 cup sour cream
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon banana extract (optional) (I won't be using this mostly because I don't have any)
1 ripe banana,

Orange Glaze:
2 cups sifted confectioners' sugar
5 tablespoons fresh orange juice

In a bowl, whisk together the sugar and orange juice until smooth.

For the scones:
In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, and baking soda.  Add the cold butter pieces and quickly press between your fingertips to break up the butter and incorporate it into the flour until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
Place the milk, heavy cream, sour cream, vanilla extract, and banana extract (if using) in another bowl.  Whisk together until the sour cream is fully incorporated and the mixture is smooth.  Make a well in the flour mixture and pour in all the liquid.  Add the diced banana and mix with a wooden spoon until the dough comes together.  Do not over mix.  Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2 hours.
Heat the oven to 400.  Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.  Lightly flour a work surface and place the dough on it.  Cut the dough into 2 equal pieces.  Wrap one piece in plastic wrap and set aside in the refrigerator.  Press the dough down with your fingertips and flatten to an 8-inch circle, about 1/2 inch thick.  Cut the circle into 8 equal wedges and place them on one of the prepared baking sheets about 1/2 inch apart.  Bake the scones until golden brown, 15 to 18 minutes.  Let cool for 5 minutes and drizzle with 1/2 the Orange Glaze.  Serve warm.  Repeat with remaining piece of dough and remaining Orange Glaze.

Hopefully these will help break me out of the cooking rut and I'll come back and review this cookbook fully.  There's tons of scones and rolls and biscuits that look divine.  If you try this before me come back and let me know how it goes!  I may need a strong push to get out of this rut!

I'm linking up with Weekend Cooking hosted by Beth Fish Reads

Friday Linkups: Alice in Wonderland

It's Friday linkup time!  I'm linking up with the Book Blogger Hop hosted by Coffee Addicted Writer, Book Beginnings of Fridays hosted by Rose City Reader, and the Friday 56 hosted by Freda's Voice.

This Week's Blogger Hop Question:
Books, books, and more books.  What other things do you love besides reading?  Now I know that is a difficult question, but we can't read 24/7, right?

My Answer:
I don't suffer from a lack of things to do!  Besides reading I have tons of TV shows I love - most of which fall into either crime or food categories.  I also love to garden and am excited every year when it's time to get my veggies in the ground.  I've recently become obsessed with hiking and finding good trails to hike with the Tornado.  I also love to cook and bake and enjoy hunting up and trying new recipes.

This week's book is Alice in Wonderland which I'm embarrassed to say I've never read despite the fact that this is my grandmother's favorite book.  My grandmother is my original reading buddy and is responsible for introducing me to a number of my favorites - Agatha Christie, Patricia Wentworth, Rosamunde Pilcher, Bill Bryson, and pretty much cozy mysteries in general.  When I was making up my Classics Club list and then my list for The Reading Assignment Challenge I just knew this was one of the books I absolutely had to get to!

The Beginning:
Alice was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister on the bank and of having nothing to do: once or twice she had peeped into the book her sister was reading, but it had no pictures or conversations in it, "and what is the use of a book," thought Alice, 'without pictures or conversations?"

My Thoughts:
I can just picture a little girl squirming around trying to entertain herself and being completely bored.  I like his writing style already.  It's so descriptive without being overly wordy.

The 56:
It sounded an excellent plan, no doubt, and very neatly and simply arranged; the only difficulty was, that she had not the smallest idea how to set about it; and while she was peering about anxiously among the trees, a sharp bark just over her head made her look up in a great hurry.

My Thoughts:
Even though I'm not here yet I can guess what's going on since I'm familiar with the story.  I'm still in love with the writing style as it does provide a really whimsical feel to the reading of the story.

So what do you think?  Keep reading?  Have you read this one and if so what did you think?

Hyperbole and a Half - Review

Hyperbole and a Half: Unfortunate Situations, Flawed Coping Mechanisms, Mayhem, and Other Things That Happened by Allie Brosh

Rating: 3.5 Stars
Source: Library

Description:  So this book is impossible to describe in anyway that makes sense.  It's essentially a series of stories illustrated with wonderfully terrible drawings about Allie Brosh's life, her adventures with animals, and her struggles with depression.

Genre: Nonfiction

Why I Picked This Book:  I've enjoyed a few posts of her that I'd seen and wanted to see how it worked in book form.

My Impression:  My first introduction to Allie Brosh was when a friend sent me a link to a Christmas post of hers with a subject line of You MUST Read this.  And I read it and I laughed until I cried and then forward it on to a few friends who all laughed until they cried.  It took me awhile to realize that the post actually came from a blog but by the time I had put the pieces together and remembered to visit the blog Allie had taken a break from blogging.  So I was thrilled when I discovered that she had a book coming out and I scooped it up when I came across it at the library.
If you enjoyed her blog I think you'll enjoy her book.  The drawings are a charmingly weird mix of incredibly childish and incredibly expressive and fit the tone of all the stories that filled the book.  There were a number that made me laugh out loud - Her story about moving with the two dogs was hilarious and the story of the goose in the kitchen alone is worth the price of the book. She also talks about her struggle with depression in such a way that I came out of the book truly feeling like I understand it a little better.

But with all that amazingness there was a number of stories that just weren't quite as amazing and a number that seemed to stretch too long.  I think the entire book would have been improved if it was just a little shorter.  However, it's a quick read - mostly fun though sometimes poignant - and definitely worth taking the time to pick up.

Would I Read More of this Series/Author?: Definitely!  I have her blog on Bloglovin and stop by periodically in hopes that she's started posting again.

Would I Recommend this Book?:  This isn't exactly a must read but if you see it at the library it's worth picking up.

Challenges Met?  Library Challenge

A Watery Death - Blog Tour Review + Giveaway

A Watery Death (Missing Pieces #7) by Joyce and Jim Lavene

Rating: 3 Stars
Source: Blog Tour

Description:  It's the 4th of July weekend in Duck, North Carolina and thousands are visiting the beach town to take part in the festivities.  Mayor Dae O'Donnell has enough going on between running her store, the holiday crowds, and her usual Mayor stuff so stumbling over a dead body is the last thing she needs.  Especially when the body is that of the dramatic Captain Lucky, captain of the gambling ship modeled after a Spanish Treasure ship that is said to haunt the small town of Duck.  Rumors of mermaid sightings start floating around town as the murder investigation begins.  Could the killer have come from the sea?  And if not who among the Duck residents and visitors could be responsible for Captain Lucky's murder?

Genre: Mystery

Why I Picked This Book:  I have enjoyed previous books by Joyce and Jim Lavene as well as enjoying previous books in this series.

My Impression: It was great to be back in Duck with Dae, Kevin and all the rest of the supporting characters.  While I have read the first two books in this series I have gotten seriously behind so this was a bit of a jump for me.  Luckily, I had no problem getting immediately involved in the story.  While I wouldn't say this is completely a stand alone I think as long as you've read the first book which gives the background on Dae's family and powers you'll have no problem with this one.  As I have come to expect from the Joyce and Jim Lavene, A Watery Death was incredibly readable.  The pace was good without being rushed and I could've easily read this book in one sitting if I had a little more time.

While I enjoy learning more about Dae's family the subplot involving her grandmother wasn't a favorite.  I found Dae's refusal to believe that anything could be negative about bringing Eleanore back even though the woman had been gone for 40 years to be a bit unrealistic and immature.  I also didn't care for how Dae and Kevin communicated.  They really didn't listen to each other or respect each other's opinion and there were several incidents where I felt like they were acting like children.

However, while I had issues with some of the personalities and a subplot the mystery itself was well done, perfectly paced and engaging.

Would I Read More of this Series/Author?: While this book didn't quite work for me I'm still looking forward to catching up on the series and Joyce and Jim Lavene always provide a good read!

Would I Recommend this Book?:  I would recommend Joyce and Jim Lavene's books in general but not this one specifically - especially if you haven't read any of the other books in this series.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Challenges Met? Reading Road Trip (North Carolina)

Top Ten Tuesday - Top Ten Books I'd Like to See as a Movie or TV Show

This week's Top Ten Tuesday topic hosted by The Broke and the Bookish is the Top Ten Books I'd Like to See as Movies or TV Shows.  One of my guilty pleasures is the Lifetime or Hallmark movies that are based off books.  The quality isn't always stellar but I always enjoy them!

1.  A Share in Death by Deborah Crombie - I'd also love to see the rest of the series turned into a television series.  BBC needs to get on that!

2.  Langston's Daughters, Baxters Draw and Alice's Portrait by Juliette Harper - Seriously Lifetime needs to pick this series up.  It'd be great!

3. The Beekeeper's Apprentice by Laurie R. King - With Sherlock being so popular right now I'd lvoe to see an adaption of King's version of the world of Holmes.

4. The Beekeeper's Ball by Susan Wiggs - The present day story line would feature beautiful orchards and rolling vistas and the World War 2 era story line would be gritty and heartbreaking.

5.  City of Jasmine by Deanna Raybourn - Glamour, intrigue, romance, and danger.  Seriously why is this not a movie?

6.  Ophelia and the Marvelous Boy by Karen Foxlee - This is such a wonderful retelling of the Snow Queen and I can't even imagine how beautiful that museum would look on camera

7.  Rilla of Ingleside by L.M. Montgomery - This is one of my favorites and now that I have a son who is close to military age and another one who is still little I weep while reading it.  I would love to see this done and replace that unspeakable 3rd Anne of Green Gables movie.

Books That Already Are Movies: 

8.  A Bone to Pick: An Aurora Teagarden Mystery based of the Aurora Teagarden series by Charlaine Harris - This series is my favorite or Harris' several mystery series and is the closet to a straightforward mystery.  This Hallmark movie focuses on one of my favorite books in the series (it involves an old house with secrets - go figure) and stars Candace Cameron Burre

9.  Murder She Baked: A Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder based off the Hannah Swensen series by Joanne Fluke - This is another Hallmark movie and features Allison Sweeney as the main character.

10. A huge variety of Nora Roberts books - Tribute, Midnight Bayou, Northern Lights, Angels Fall, Carnal Innocence, Montana Sky, Carolina Moon, Blue Smoke, and High Noon - These are by Lifetime and they're about as hokey as you'd expect but I always have fun watching them.  Seriously guilty pleasure time.

Trust No One - Revew

Trust No One by Jayne Ann Krentz

Rating: 3.5 Stars
Source: Library

Description:  Grace Elland is in the wrong time at the wrong place when she discovers the murdered body of her boss, positive thinking guru Sprague Witherspoon, one morning.  This isn't the first murder she's come across though both have featured rather prominently placed vodka bottles.  When daily affirmations start showing up in her email sent from her murdered boss's email account.
When her friends set her up on a disastrous blind date with former Marine and Venture Capitalist, Julius Arkwright, she starts out furious but as the emails increase and more and more ties to her past start appearing it begins to seem like Julius may just be the perfect date after all.

Genre: Romantic Suspense

Why I Picked This Book:I really enjoyed River Road last year and the premise on this looked interesting.

My Impression:  I've been in a romantic suspense mood lately and the latest Jayne Ann Krentz was one I just couldn't pass up.  It didn't disappoint!  Both Grace and Julius are very good at what they do but their outlooks couldn't be more different.  Grace is all about seeing the upside and positive thinking whereas Julius' personal mantras are "Trust No One" and "Everyone has a hidden agenda."  I liked that they both respected each other despite being so different.  Julius encouraged Grace to be more careful and Grace encouraged Julius to be more positive but at no point was there any belittling or dismissing.  I really liked that this wasn't insta-love.  In fact, they don't really like each other at the beginning but Grace needs advice and Julius needs a project.  While their relationship developed quickly as is usually the case in this genre it never felt forced.  Mostly, I just loved that they listened to each other.
The mystery itself was interesting and the loose ends were tied up nicely.  There were some fairly minor plot holes and the reveal felt very sudden.  I wouldn't say this is the most unpredictable of books as I had a pretty good idea what was going from pretty early but that didn't effect my enjoyment.  This also isn't a book that will really stick with me but it was definitely lots of fun while I was reading it!

Would I Read More of this Series/Author?: Definitely!  These are perfect summer reads.

Would I Recommend this Book?:  If you've enjoyed Krentz's previous books or are in the mood for a romantic suspense this is a good choice.

Challenges Met? Library Challenge, Reading Road Trip (Washington)