Sunday Bookends: The Word is Murder, more swimming, and watching Marilyn still

On August 6, 2023August 6, 2023 By Lisa R. HowelerIn everyday musings, Sunday Bookends2 Comments

It’s time for our Sunday morning chat. On Sundays, I ramble about what’s been going on, what the rest of the family and I have been reading and watching, and what I’ve been writing. Some weeks I share what I am listening to.

This week I’m joining up with Kimba at Caffeinated Reviewer and Kathyrn at The Book Date.

What I/we’ve Been Reading

This week I haven’t been able to read anything other than The Word is Murder by Anthony Horowitz because I just have to know what happened. This is a book where the author has made himself part of the story and it’s brilliantly done.

I’ve mentioned before that Horowitz has created or written for several well-known television shows including Foyle’s War, Midsomer Murders, Poirot, Injustice, New Blood and Collision.

He also is the only author approved by the Arthur Conon Doyle Estate to write Sherlock books and he has written two — Moriarty and House of Silk.

His other books include the Alex Rider series (for teens), The Magpie Murders, the Power of Five, Diamond of Five.

At one point I thought the book might be wandering into territory I didn’t want to read about and I considered dropping it but then Horowitz, writing as himself since he is the main character/narrator of the book, said he was only continuing to talk to the rude consultant to the police because he had to know what happened to the victim. It was how I felt too. I can’t stop reading until I know what happens so more than once I’ve been up late reading the book, desperate for a resolution.

The book starts with a woman walking into a funeral parlor and arranging her own funeral. Odd enough but then later that day she’s murdered – strangled in her home by a cord on her curtains. A man named Hawthorne is called in as a consultant and Horowitz decides to write a book about Hawthorne and the investigation. Hawthorne is rude and blunt and Horowitz starts to second guess the decision but he’s already invested and needs to know what happened to the victim so he pushes forward – much like the reader.

Horowitz does such a wonderful job crafting the story and weaving in humor that you can’t help but want to push forward, though.

This is the first of four books in the series. I started reading book four when I saw my husband’s library book on the kitchen table, opened it to see what it was about, and couldn’t put it down. That’s when he told me it was book four and he had the other books in his Kindle. Our accounts are connected so I downloaded the first book immediately.

I’m also listening to Death by the Seaside by T.E. Kinsey when I drive somewhere or wash the dishes and I hope to finish When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit by Judith Kerr this week as well.

Little Miss and I will be finishing up the second book in the Boxcar Children series this week – Surprise Island.

The Husband is reading. I can’t tell you what because he was attending a car show for work (he is a newspaper reporter/editor) so he’s not here for me to ask.

What’s Been Occurring

I wrote about what’s been occurring in my post yesterday and the only new thing that has happened since then is that Little Miss and I went swimming yesterday afternoon at my parents. We will be doing the same this afternoon.

I’m still hoping for a fairly relaxed week coming up. I have to take our van to a local scrapyard to see if they will buy it off us and take Little Miss to gymnastics and then that’s about it. I’d like to spend a good part of the week putting my grandfather’s poems in scrapbooks before my parents’ 60^th wedding anniversary party in September.

I’m really looking forward to fall this year, which I’ve mentioned a couple of times recently. Summer just feels so busy and I really want some days where I can stay inside and accomplish some of the things I need to do for my books and journals and stock photography since those are my own sources of side income right now. Plus they are fun.

What We watched/are Watching

This past week we watched Guardians of the Galaxy 3 (we actually still have to finish it), The Super Mario Brothers movie, Newhart, Designing Women, and I finished Monkey Business with Cary Grant and Marilyn Monroe because I kept getting interrupted while watching it. This upcoming week I am watching All About Eve with Marilyn.

I also watched a video with Darling Desi on Youtube where she talked about how she is ready for fall. I’m right there with her.

What I’m Writing

This past week I worked on Gladwynn Grant Takes Center Stage and am going to work on it through August and hope to finish it by the beginning of September so I can continue on Cassie for the Apron Strings book series. My book for that series comes out in August of 2024.

On the blog this week I shared:

What I’m Listening to

Little Miss and I have been listening to a playlist that includes a lot of Christian musical artists while we swim. Those artists include: Matthew West, Elevation Worship, Crowder, Keith Green, MercyMe, and a few others.

Blog Posts I Enjoyed This Past Week

I am severely behind on blog posts but did read a few. I’ll leave a link to some of my favorites next week.

Now it’s your turn

Now it’s your turn. What have you been doing, watching, reading, listening to or writing? Let me know in the comments or leave a blog post link if you also write a weekly update like this.

Sunday Bookends: Recovering from a busy week, not my favorite cozy mystery book, and hopefully a slower week next week

On July 30, 2023July 30, 2023 By Lisa R. HowelerIn everyday musings, Sunday Bookends10 Comments

Sunday Bookends July 30

It’s time for our Sunday morning chat. On Sundays, I ramble about what’s been going on, what the rest of the family and I have been reading and watching, and what I’ve been writing. Some weeks I share what I am listening to.

This week I’m joining up with Kimba at Caffeinated Reviewer and Kathyrn at The Book Date.

What I/we’ve been Reading

I will be finishing up Elementary She Read by Vicki Delany tonight and I have to be honest that I did not enjoy the second half as much as the first half. The second hash seemed like a rehashing of the first half. I don’t know how to explain that other than the author repeating themselves a lot about the characters and points of the story like she herself forgot some of those points and wanted to be sure the reader didn’t as well. I will probably try another Delany book but maybe not in this series. The main character of this series sort of grates on my nerves but maybe she will grow on me if I try book two.

The only reason I kept reading the book was because it was due back on Libby yesterday. As soon as it was returned for me, however, before I finished it mind you, I asked to have it put on hold again. At first it said there were two people ahead of me. Then it said that I could have the book back again. So I took it back to finish it.

This week I plan to focus on The Word Is Murder by Anthony Horowitz.

I also plan to read a chapter or two of Anne of Ingleside, which I believe is the last book in the series that focuses on Anne, Gilbert, and her family exclusively.

Next week I hope to finish Nicole Deese’s book All That Really Matters which I started at the beginning of the summer and got distracted from. It was a pretty good book, even though I can tell it’s going to be a typical romance of he doesn’t like her but he’s going to fall for her, blah, blah. Oh, wait. I write that stuff too sometimes. Ha.

The Husband is reading a Joe Pickett novel.

Little Miss and I read a stack of picture books yesterday and she started a book called Saving Winslow that she picked out on the last day of summer reading.

The Boy isn’t really reading right now as he tries to enjoy the last bits of summer before school starts the 24^th.

What’s Been Occurring

I talked about what has been occurring in yesterday’s post. After our crazy busy week, Little Miss had some sort of allergy attack or brief illness (which would be the second in two weeks) and had a runny nose and dry cough all day yesterday. She slept hard last night and into this afternoon and now she’s a little bit better. Because of her not feeling good yesterday we are staying home today instead of visiting my parents but will probably see my parents later in the week. We will definitely see them on Thursday, which is my mom’s birthday. Also, she’s going to be 79, not 80. I aged her a year (again) in a post last week.

This next week we do not have a ton to do, luckily. I might ride with my dad to his physical therapy 45 minutes south on Tuesday and Thursday, but otherwise, it should be a relaxed week. You know how it goes when I say that in my posts, though. The week usually doesn’t end up being relaxed at all.

I will start my job as a sales representative for The Old Schoolhouse Magazine as an independent contractor around August 7.

Photos from Last Week

What We watched/are Watching

Last week The Husband and I watched a lot of Newhart and it was nice and relaxing.

I watched half of Monkey Business with Cary Grant and Marilyn Monroe and will watch the rest today. I also hope to watch some All Creatures Great and Small, even though I’ve seen all the episodes.

I also have had to watch a ton of Snake Discovery, which is a YouTube channel about snakes that Little Miss loves.

What I’m Writing

I worked on Gladwynn Grant Takes Center Stage this week and I am having a lot of fun writing it. I also wrote at least one blog post I’ll be sharing tomorrow and started a couple more.
On the blog, I shared:

What I’m Listening To

This week I will be listening to Elevation Worship. When I drive anywhere I will be listening to Death Beside the Seaside by T.E. Kinsey as an audiobook.

Now it’s your turn

Now it’s your turn. What have you been doing, watching, reading, listening to or writing? Let me know in the comments or leave a blog post link if you also write a weekly update like this.

Sunday Bookends: cozy mysteries, regular mysteries, and swimming

On July 23, 2023July 23, 2023 By Lisa R. HowelerIn everyday musings, Sunday Bookends4 Comments

This week I’m joining up with Kimba at Caffeinated Reviewer and Kathyrn at The Book Date.

What I/we’ve been Reading

I finished Secrets of the Amish Letter by Rachael Phillips last week, staying up until 1 a.m. so I could take it back to the library the next morning when we went there for the Summer reading program. In the end, we didn’t actually go to the library that morning but I was able to return the book later in the day.

I enjoyed the book overall, but actually enjoyed book two in the series – Murder Simply Played — more.

I am still reading The Word is Murder by Anthony Horowitz and also started Elementary She Read by Vicki Delaney.

I shared the description of The Word is Murder last week, but I thought I’d share the plot of Elementary She Read today:

When murder pays a visit to Sherlock Holmes Bookshop and Emporium, Gemma Doyle must use the powers of deduction to find the killer—and clear her own name.

Gemma Doyle, a transplanted Englishwoman, has returned to the quaint town of West London on Cape Cod to manage her Great Uncle Arthur’s Sherlock Holmes Bookshop and Emporium. The shop—located at 222 Baker Street—specializes in the Holmes canon and pastiche, and is also home to Moriarty the cat. When Gemma finds a rare and potentially valuable magazine containing the first Sherlock Homes story hidden in the bookshop, she and her friend Jayne (who runs the adjoining Mrs. Hudson’s Tea Room) set off to find the owner, only to stumble upon a dead body.

Gemma is the police’s first suspect, so she puts her consummate powers of deduction to work to clear her name, investigating a handsome rare books expert, the dead woman’s suspiciously unmoved son, and a whole family of greedy characters desperate to cash in on their inheritance. But when Gemma and Jayne accidentally place themselves at a second murder scene, it’s a race to uncover the truth before the detectives lock them up for good.

From what I’ve seen on her social media sites, Vicki is also Eva Gates, if you have ever read any of her books. That seems to be a common theme in cozy mysteries – authors who write under a few different names.

Little Miss and are reading the second book in the Boxcar Children series and Paddington Abroad right now and we have a stack of picture books from the library to read this week as well.

The Husband is reading Patriot Games by Tom Clancy.

What’s Been Occurring

Little Miss and I went swimming at my parents yesterday and I may have overdone it a bit. I was in so much pain last night from actually using my arms to do something other than writing that I had trouble sleeping. It didn’t help that we were in the pool for almost two and a half hours. It felt good to exercise and to have fun with Little Miss, though, so it was sort of a good pain. I don’t know how to explain that. My muscles might suffer after I go swimming (thanks to whatever auto-immune ridiculousness I have going on) but my brain is more alert an hour or so after I get out and after I’ve had some food.

My mom, who will be 79 August 3, made us bacon for dinner and we added that to lettuce and tomato for me and bread, lettuce, tomato, and dressing for everyone else. When we came home, The Husband had also made us steaks so we had two meals, which was totally fine after all those calories we burned.

I wrote about our activities last week in my Saturday Afternoon Chat post yesterday. Bottom line? It was a busy week in many ways and there is another busy week coming up. You can read all about our busy summer so far HERE.

What We watched/are Watching

This past week we watched Newhart, which is a comfort watch for me, and I watched The Seven Year Itch with Marilyn Monroe, which I will be writing more about later in the week.

I didn’t watch as much as some weeks because I messed around with social media and how to promote my books and also with the new job stuff.

Yesterday and today I am watching some of my favorite YouTubers, including Just A Few Acres and Forgotten Way Farms.

What I’m Writing

I’m working on book two of the Gladwynn Grant Mystery series and this week I will also be writing more blog posts. In September I will be working on Cassie from the Apron Strings book series. That book comes out in August of 2024. If you are interested in knowing more about this series, you can join our readers group on Facebook, which you can find HERE.

Now it’s your turn

Now it’s your turn. What have you been doing, watching, reading, listening to or writing? Let me know in the comments or leave a blog post link if you also write a weekly update like this.

Sunday Bookends: Reading and writing mysteries

On July 16, 2023 By Lisa R. HowelerIn everyday musings, Sunday Bookends9 Comments

Sunday Bookends:

I am very late in posting today because I simply ran out of brain power after a busy week last week of running around a lot. I spent the day resting, vegging, and reading some.

What I/we’ve been Reading

I did not have a lot of time for reading last week so I am still reading the same books from last week:

Secrets of the Amish Diary by Rachael Phillips and The Word is Murder by Anthony Horowitz.

These books could not be more different from each other and I like that because if I am not in the mood for one, I pick up the other.

I don’t remember if I offered descriptions for the books last week but I will do so today.

(Note: I can not find Secrets of the Amish Diary anywhere except as used copies or on a site called Annie’s Fiction (https://www.anniesfiction.com/products/amish-inn-mysteries/secrets-of-the-amish-diary). I have no idea why!)

Secrets of the Amish Diary:

When Liz Eckardt leaves behind her hectic life as a Boston lawyer to become an innkeeper in charming Pleasant Creek, Indiana, she hopes to find solace – and answers – as she mourns the loss of her mother, Abigail. Along with her mother’s diary and an antique heirloom quilt, Liz inherited a family secret: Abigail cut ties with her Amish family years ago – a family Liz never knew existed – and Liz yearns to unravel the mystery of her mother’s past.

Liz settles into her new life at the Olde Mansion Inn with the help of the town’s quirky quilting group, the Material Girls, and several members of the Amish community. She bonds instantly with her new Amish friend, Miriam Borkholder, and enjoys the success of her burgeoning bed and breakfast.

That is, until one of her guests, the unpopular Clarence Peabody, is found dead in the lake behind her inn . . . and Miriam’s son is the prime suspect!

Convinced of the Amish boy’s innocence, Liz begins to piece together the evidence, learning quickly that the killer will stop at nothing to hide the truth. When Liz receives a cryptic letter written in the local Amish dialect, the message is clear: Stay out of this . . . or else. Who sent the letter? And is Clarence’s murder somehow tied to her family’s secret past?

Join Liz and her lively team of crafty investigators as they stitch together clues and uncover the cause of the unusual events happening in Pleasant Creek. Will they discover the truth about Liz’s family before someone else is silenced?

The Word is Murder has one of the most unique plots I’ve ever seen:

A woman crosses a London street. It is just after 11 a.m. on a bright spring morning, and she is going into a funeral parlor to plan her own service. Six hours later the woman is dead, strangled with a crimson curtain cord in her own home.

Enter disgraced police detective Daniel Hawthorne, a brilliant, eccentric man as quick with an insult as he is to crack a case. And Hawthorne has a partner, the celebrated novelist Anthony Horowitz, curious about the case and looking for new material. As brusque, impatient, and annoying as Hawthorne can be, Horowitz—a seasoned hand when it comes to crime stories—suspects the detective may be on to something, and is irresistibly drawn into the mystery.

But as the case unfolds, Horowitz realizes that he’s at the center of a story he can’t control, and his brilliant partner may be hiding dark and mysterious secrets of his own.

The Husband is reading a Walter Mosely book called The Man In My Basement.

Little Miss and I are reading a variety of things right now, including re-reading Paddington one night when she felt frightened and sad about something (Paddington cheers her up) and listening to The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe on Audible.

The Boy is on a reading break because it is summer break and he’s been working a lot, either with my dad or at his job as a dishwasher at a local restaurant.

What’s Been Occurring

I rambled a lot about what we’ve been up to in my post yesterday if you would like to catch up.

Today we stayed home and rested. I have a job interview in the morning for a job that would be from home and around 15 hours a week. I’m nervous but hopeful it works out. Our family could use the financial help like a lot of other families.

What We watched/are Watching

Last week I watched a lot of Just A Few Acres Farm on YouTube. The farmer, Pete’s voice is very soothing to me because he’s so calm and cheerful about life. He seems to stay positive a lot and I really need that in my life. On Friday when I had to drive 45 minutes up and 45 minutes back from somewhere, after doing the same thing the day before, I told myself I would channel Pete to make it through the day. I purposely focused on slowing my thoughts and speech down throughout the day and just being like Pete. “I am Pete,” I said each time I became stressed. It helped a lot and I have a feeling I’ll have to do more of that this week.

I also watched an episode of Miss Scarlet and The Duke and a few episodes of Newhart, as well as an episode of Poirot with The Husband.

I watched Some Like It Hot last week and wrote about it on the blog (link below).

This week I’ll be watching The Seven Year Itch.

What I’m Writing

Gladwynn Grant Gets Her Footing came out this week! You can snatch a copy, or read it on Kindle Unlimited, HERE.

I am working on book two of the series now. It’s called Gladwynn Grant Takes Center Stage.

On the blog this week I shared:

What I’m Listening To

I am listening to a mystery on audible: Death Beside the Seaside by T.E Kinsey.

Now it’s your turn

Now it’s your turn. What have you been doing, watching, reading, listening to or writing? Let me know in the comments or leave a blog post link if you also write a weekly update like this.

Sunday Bookends: Horowitz, overly descriptive mysteries and swimming weather

On July 2, 2023 By Lisa R. HowelerIn Sunday Bookends2 Comments

What I/we’ve been Reading

I finished A Novel Disguise by Samantha Larsen his week. Well, sort of. I more like skimmed the last half because I was exhausted with the tedious descriptions of the main character getting dressed as her dead half-brother. The plot was hanging by a thread as it was but then add in three-paragraph-long descriptions of the clothes she had to dress in to look like her brother and I was pretty much over it. I enjoyed the writing style but the further I got into the book the more it felt like the author was trying to show off the research she’d done about colonial clothing instead of getting to the point of the story.

It was fine when she explained what clothes she needed to put on to look like her half-brother in the beginning but to keep doing it, complete with all the terms for each piece of clothing, each time she got dressed really dragged the book down. The book was 40 chapters long and I think she could have written the book in half that many chapters and it would have been much better. I did like the characters and the mystery, though, so I’m not saying I’d never read anything by this author again.

To cleanse my pallet (though the book was not horrible. Truly!) I am reading a Nancy Drew book – the first in the original series – and I’m about to start a Anthony Horowitz book – The Word is Murder (A Hawthorne and Horowitz Mystery Book 1).

This series of books is unique because Horowitz has written himself into the books.

I’m starting his book because I picked up my husband’s library book — The Twist of A Knife — and got hooked. The only issue is that The Twist of A Knife was the latest book in the series and there are three others before it that The Husband feels I need to read first. So I am starting with The Word is Murder.

Little Miss is reading The Boxcar Children: Surprise Island. I haven’t been reading to her at night the last couple of nights because she’s been so tired she’s been passing out before we can get to the reading.

The Husband read at least four books on his vacation, including the Horowitz book and a Janet Evanovich book.

What’s Been Occurring

I wrote about what we’ve been up to in my post yesterday and nothing worth nothing has happened since then. We have a fairly relaxed week upcoming with one event for summer reading at the local library and gymnastics, but not much else, thankfully.

What We watched/are Watching

This past week The Husband and I watched a Midsomer Murders, a Shakespeare and Hathaway (which was not very good but none of them from the Covid area were), and a lot of Newhart. We also watched the movie Niagara with Marilyn Monroe, which I wrote about on the blog.

I’ll be watching Some Like It Hot this week.

I watched a lot of Just A Few Acres on YouTube as well.

What I’m Writing

I am still working on Gladwynn Grant Takes Center Stage and finished up corrections on Gladwynn Grant Gets Her Footing so I can get that ready for release the week after next. I’m so close to the release date! I’m excited to release Gladwynn into the world. In August I will be sharing some of book two on my Substack for paid subscribers.

This week on the blog I shared:

Now it’s your turn

Now it’s your turn. What have you been doing, watching, reading, listening to or writing? Let me know in the comments or leave a blog post link if you also write a weekly update like this.

Sunday Bookends: cozy mysteries, sleepovers and still working on book two of the mystery series

On June 25, 2023June 25, 2023 By Lisa R. HowelerIn Sunday Bookends1 Comment

It’s time for our Sunday chat. On Sundays, I ramble about what’s been going on, what the rest of the family and I have been reading and watching, and what I’ve been writing, and some weeks I share what I am listening to.

What I/we’ve Been Reading

I finished Murder Simply Played by Rachael O. Phillips earlier today.

There are two others in this series – Amish Inn Mysteries – at my local library so I’m sure I’ll pick up the next one when we go to the Summer Reading program on Tuesday.

I’m now moving on to A Novel Disguise by Samantha Larsen, which I am part way through. It’s a historical cozy mystery and is keeping my attention, even though I think it’s a completely implausible plot line with a woman pretending to be her half-brother who died. I don’t know how she’s making herself look like her brother so much that no one can tell, but, okay. We will go with it, I guess. There also isn’t much of a mystery going on yet other than a few stolen items, but we will see where it goes. Her half-brother died of natural causes but I’m beginning to wonder if he might have been murdered.

The Husband is reading a CJ Box book he picked up at the library.

The Boy is on a break from reading for the summer.

Little Miss and I hope to start a Boxcar Children book tonight.

What’s Been Occurring

I rambled yesterday about what has been going on and mentioned Little Miss was having a sleepover with two friends (who are sisters). That went fairly well and Little Miss has her first sleepover under her belt. I think we will wait to do that again for a while but it really didn’t go as bad as I thought. They were to sleep pretty early and sleeping on the couch wasn’t the most comfortable arrangement for me but I slept better than I thought I would.

I’m surprised they stayed awake as long as they did since they ran full bore all day long. They were on the trampoline, the slip n’ slide, chasing each other on roller skates, and hoping all over the place all day long. When they finally sat down for a movie around 9, I thought they’d be out before the movie barely started.

This week The Husband is on vacation, and we have a couple of Summer Reading events to attend with Little Miss. Other than that, he will be at home reading books and watching mystery shows.

What We Watched/are Watching

This week I plan to watch Some Like It Hot with Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis, and Jack Lemon.

I also hope to carve out some time to watch some mystery shows with The Husband and Edwardian Farm by myself.

I also hope to watch a special on Ireland, most likely by myself, which is okay by me. I geek out on shows about other countries or castles, etc. and not everyone else in the family does, though The Husband occasionally does.

This past week I watched several videos by YouTubers I enjoy following, including Just A Few Acres Farms. I wrote about some of the YouTube Channels I watch and enjoy in a post on Friday and really appreciated the suggestions a couple of you left for me. I plan to check out those YouTubers as well.

What I’m Writing

I am still working on Gladwynn Grant Takes Center Stage, as well as finishing edits on Gladwynn Grant Gets Her Footing, which is available for pre-order (ebook only right now) on Amazon HERE.

On the blog this week I shared:

What I’m Listening To

I have been listening to Harry Connick Jr.’s. Red Light, Blue Light album this week.

Blog Posts I Enjoyed This Past Week

Dad Was Different by author Rachael O. Phillips

Now it’s your turn.

What have you been doing, watching, reading, listening to or writing? Let me know in the comments or leave a blog post link if you also write a weekly update like this.

Sunday Bookends: library visits, blooming flowers, books that make me cringe, and music to write to

On June 18, 2023 By Lisa R. HowelerIn everyday musings, Sunday Bookends8 Comments

What I/we’ve been Reading

I will be finishing The Regal Pink by Jenny Knipfer today and I have really enjoyed it. I am not just saying this because I consider Jenny an author friend. I went into this book concerned I wouldn’t like it because I am not a fan of “fantasy” type books but, yet again, I was wrong to be concerned. This is the third Christian fantasy book I have read that has captured my heart. Much like two books by author Max Sternberg, I fell in love with the characters of this book and also Jenny’s writing style. I honestly think that fantasy is the genre she’s meant to write in.

I’ll ramble about the book a little bit more in a review later this week.

I started a Nora Roberts book yesterday because Little Miss picked it out for me at the library. I have never read Nora Roberts but have been told by a friend that once I read this one, I have read all of her books.

This is actually a pair of Christmas novellas combined and it looked like it would be a quick read, but after reading up to chapter four last night I just know I am not going to be able to get through this without cringing anymore than I already have. It is so ridiculous. Seriously.

The guy is gone for ten years, comes back for town to see the woman who he left behind but asked to wait for him. She married while he was gone though, crushing his spirits. When he comes back, though, he finds out that day that she’s divorced and seconds after he finds that out they are making out. Like — what???

And of course, he meets the woman’s daughter and of course, I already know the daughter is his. Such a cliché trope. No thank you. That book is currently in my DNF (did not finish) pile.

Little Miss had no idea what she was picking out. She said she thought it was a cozy mystery. She also picks out small, 5.5 x 7.5 books because they are cute and if she likes the cover. It is a cute cover. I felt bad telling her it was a bad pick but oh my — it is not my cup of tea.

I’ll be trying my library pick once I finish a couple on my Kindle. That pick was:

I’m still reading All That Really Matters by Nicole Deese and enjoying it, but I wanted to finish Jenny’s book so I set it aside for now.

And as if I didn’t have enough to read, I have a cozy mystery from Libby that came in much earlier than I thought so I may start that this week and still put All That Really Matters aside.

The book is A Novel Disguise by Samantha Larsen. I really enjoyed the sample I read and looked at it after someone on Instagram suggested it.

For anyone who might be interested, here is the description:

1784 London.Miss Tiffany Woodall didn’t murder her half-brother, but she did bury him in the back garden so that she could keep her cottage. Now, the confirmed spinster has to pretend to be Uriah and fulfill his duties as the Duke of Beaufort’s librarian while searching Astwell Palace for Uriah’s missing diamond pin, the only thing of value they own. Her ruse is almost up when she is discovered by Mr. Samir Lathrop, the local bookseller, who tries to save her from drowning while she’s actually just washing up in a lake after burying her brother.

Her plan is going by the book, until the rector proposes marriage and she starts to develop feelings for Mr. Lathrop. But when her childhood friend, Tess, comes to visit, Tiffany quickly realizes her secret isn’t the only one hidden within these walls. The body of a servant is found, along with a collection of stolen items, and someone else grows mysteriously ill. Can Tiffany solve these mysteries without her own disguise being discovered? If not, she’ll lose her cottage and possibly her life.

The Boy is not reading right now but this week I have to get him to finish Fellowship of the Ring so he can say he read it.

The Husband is reading —

Little Miss and I are reading Little House on Plum Creek and then I picked up a Boxcar Children book yesterday at the library so I hope we can start that this week.

What’s Been Occurring

I wrote a bit about last week in my Saturday Afternoon post yesterday. Mainly I wrote that our flowers are blooming and we visited my parents. Not a very exciting week overall.

I did take a few more photographs of the roses and peonies yesterday to share on here:

This week the local library’s Summer Reading program starts.

They are offering an open sidewalk chalk art event on Tuesday and on Wednesday they are doing a Lego-themed storytime.

On Saturday of next week, I am supposed to have a sleepover with Little Miss’s friends because they have been asking for one for forever. I am not really looking forward to it because there is no sleep had during a sleepover and the one who won’t sleep will most likely be me and I already don’t sleep so great.

Plus I snore and I am worried I will keep the kids awake, but we will see how it goes.

What I’m/We’re Watching

Last week I watched a lot of Forgotten Way Farms on YouTube.

The Husband and I didn’t have a lot of time to watch things together but did watch a Barnaby Jones episode, which I made a lot of fun of. We also watched some Newhart.

What I’m Writing

I have been working on book two of the Gladwynn Grant Mysteries.

On the blog this past week I shared:

What I’m Listening To

This week I listened to James Herriot’s Treasury for Children on Audible. We don’t have a membership to Audible but we did for a while, so we purchased several books on sale. This was one of them.

I loved the sweet stories with happy endings in this book. Each story is about a cat or dog that Alfred Wight took care of or met during his time as a vet.

When I write I also listen to a mix of music from the 1930s and 1940s, including this playlist on YouTube:

This week I also listened to Samantha Fish and Matthew West (yes. Two completely different artists.)

Blog Posts I Enjoyed This Past Week Or Recently

Mama’s Empty Nest: Birthday Joy

Scott Tirrell: Well, I’m Stumped (about his writing journey)

Katja: Notorious

Over the Teacups: Names of Jesus

Now it’s your turn

Now it’s your turn. What have you been doing, watching, reading, listening to or writing? Let me know in the comments or leave a blog post link if you also write a weekly update like this.

Sunday Bookends: reading cozy mysteries, watching a show about a victorian farm, and fun with Little Miss’s friends

On June 11, 2023June 11, 2023 By Lisa R. HowelerIn Sunday BookendsLeave a comment

What I/we’ve been Reading

Last week I finished Death and Daisies by Amanda Flower, which is part of the Magic Garden Mystery series.

I borrowed the first and second books in the series from Libby and then found out that my local library hadn’t put book three in. Argh! Hopefully they will eventually so I can finish the series.

The books are pretty good but are I don’t know that I like how the mysteries are always solved in less than a week. In book two the ending was so abrupt that it was like the story just hit a wall – pretty literally actually. The stories are entertaining, though, and I guess she solves the mysteries fast to keep the action going non-stop, which keeps the reader turning the page. They are well-written books and just a nice escape from life, even if there were a couple of things I didn’t like about them.

I read plenty of books that I don’t like every aspect of it but still enjoyed the escape from life I experienced while reading them. If I didn’t like the books at all then I wouldn’t have added another one of her books from a different series to my Kindle this weekend from Libby and wouldn’t be hoping to get book three for less than the $13 being charged on Amazon for the eBook edition. I’m going to wait and see if I can get it on Libby instead at some point. I find it odd that you can get the other two books in mass paperback for $8 but it’s $13 for even an ebook for the new one, even though it is three years old, but I’ll never understand how publishers work.

Anyhow, enough rambling about books and costs and etc., etc. Here is a quick description of book two of the Magic Garden series in case you are wondering what it was about:
Fiona Knox thought she was pulling her life back together when she inherited her godfather’s cottage in Duncreigan, Scotland—complete with a magical walled garden. But the erstwhile Tennessee flower shop owner promptly found herself puddle boot-deep in danger when she found a dead body among the glimmering blossoms. One police investigation and a handsome Chief Inspector names Neil Craig later and Fiona’s life is getting back on a steady—though bewitched—track. Her sister Isla has just moved in with her, and the grand opening of her new spellbound venture, the Climbing Rose Flower Shop in Aberdeenshire, is imminent.

But dark, ensorcelled clouds are gathering to douse Fiona’s newly sunny outlook. First, imperious parish minister Quaid MacCullen makes it undeniably clear that he would be happy to send Fiona back to Tennessee. Then, a horrific lightning storm, rife with terrible omen, threatens to tear apart the elderly cottage and sends Fi and Isla cowering under their beds. The storm passes, but then, Fi is called away from the Climbing Rose’s opening soiree when Kipling, the tiny village’s weak-kneed volunteer police chief, finds a dead body on the beach.

The body proves difficult to identify, but Kipling is certain it’s that of the parish minister. Which makes Fiona, MacCullen’s new nemesis, a suspect. And what’s worse, Isla has seemed bewitched as of late…did she do something unspeakable to protect her sister? The last thing Fiona wanted to do was play detective again. But now, the rosy future she’d envisioned is going to seed, and if she and Craig can’t clear her name, her idyllic life will wilt away.

Since I didn’t have book three, I jumped back into my first Nicole Deese book, All That Really Matters. It is a romance and I know where it is going but it is well-written so I’m going to keep reading it.

I am also reading The Regal Pink by Jenny Knipfer. This is a faith-based fantasy book and so far, I am enjoying it, even though it is not my normal genre.

I’m switching between books based on my mood like I usually do since I am mainly a mood reader.

Little Miss and I are still re-reading Little House on Plum Creek, but I have a few other books on my list that I hope we can start soon.

What’s Been Occurring

I posted a little bit about what was happening last week on my post yesterday if you want to read that to catch up, but I will warn you that it wasn’t terribly exciting. *wink* There was a little sadness, a bit of stress, and a lot of wildfire smoke.

Yesterday Little Miss had a friend over and we attended a graduation party for our neighbor’s daughter who graduated from high school Friday night.

The party was held at a small hall down the street from our house but then it was moved back up to the neighbor’s house, which let Little Miss and her friend play with our neighbor’s grandsons and some other children who came to the party for a little while.

She and her friend jumped on the trampoline, then played on the slip n’ slide, then went to the trampoline, then back to the slip n’ slide and so on. I’m not sure about the other kids, but my daughter slept pretty hard last night after all that playing. I also let her sleep in this morning.

We finished school last week and are looking forward to our summer break to refresh our minds and souls. We are hoping for some relaxing days, a little bit of fun, and a lot of time to simply take our time and not feel like we have any obligations to do anything intentionally academic.

What We Watched/are Watching

I started watching Victorian Farm on BritBox this week because Erin from Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs has talked about it quite a few times to me and on her blog. It is an interesting show about how farmers lived in the Victorian age in England.

Here is a little description in case you are curious:

This historical documentary series finds archaeologists Alex Langlands and Peter Ginn and domestic historian Ruth Goodman on the Acton Scott estate, located in rural England and frozen in the Victorian era. The trio lives here for a year, using only Victorian-era tools and materials, such as those found scattered around the estate, to re-create everyday life during the late 1800s. The three must grow and harvest their own food, care for and breed a variety of livestock animals, maintain the estate’s buildings and even craft their own tools and furniture.

The Husband and I also watched a few episodes of Newhart on Amazon last week because it is such a lovely escape from life.

This morning I watched a sermon from Elevation Church and then I watched another one with Robert Madu from Social Dallas. Both were very good. One was about our need to connect with other Christians and the other one was about Jonah and God’s call on his life and on our life. Then I watched half of another sermon by Robert, which was about loving others even we do not agree with them because God loves them even if he does not love what they do (just like he often doesn’t love what we do).

What I’m Writing

I am working on Gladwynn Grant Takes Center Stage, book two in the Gladwynn Grant Mysteries. The first book comes out July 18^th.

Last week on the blog I shared:

Now it’s your turn

Now it’s your turn. What have you been doing, watching, reading, listening to or writing? Let me know in the comments or leave a blog post link if you also write a weekly update like this.

Sunday Bookends: Some time alone, books about fairies and murder, Summer of Marilyn

On June 4, 2023June 4, 2023 By Lisa R. HowelerIn Sunday Bookends5 Comments

What’s Been Occurring

As I mentioned in my post yesterday, I had about five hours to myself at home, which is a very unusual thing. I said I would update today whether I enjoyed it or cried because I missed my family.

Update: I had a blast.

Sure, I missed my family and if they had been gone much longer than they were I would have been a mess, but for those five hours I had so much fun by myself.

I watched whatever movie I wanted to watch (How To Marry A Millionaire) without being interrupted 18 times.

I made myself grilled chicken on our grill and ate it while it was still hot! I didn’t have to eat mine after I fixed everyone else’s plate, which I don’t always do, but still . . .

I didn’t have to get up and make anyone a snack for anyone or listen to my movie over the sound of a kid’s show on a phone or stop what I was doing to look at anything someone wanted to show me.

It was wonderful! Again, though, I also would absolutely miss those other things if my family wasn’t around, so I was super happy when they came home. I could only enjoy being alone with my thoughts for so long.

I’m doing my best to carry that relaxed feeling into today. The weather is beautiful and I just want to hold on to that feeling.

I realized at the end of the day that one reason I felt so peaceful last night even after my alone time was that I stayed off social media and the news. Today and into this week I plan to do the same thing. I’m not saying I won’t go on social media at all but I will definitely go on much less than I do some weeks.

The words that came to mind this morning on that topic were: I need to protect my peace.

It was what I did around this past Christmas. I locked myself away in a bubble of comfort, in a way, through the month of December and I need to do that more often. Of course, we can’t always keep the bad way, but we can make every effort possible to protect our peace and not go looking for those things that threaten that peace.

Calamity and chaos will always find us but there is no reason we should seek it out through scrolling mindlessly on social media or news sites.
I mentioned in a recent post that I was worried that the frost and freeze we had was going to kill my peonies and roses as it did my lilacs. I am happy to report that I checked my peonies yesterday while everyone was gone and they survived and are starting to bloom.

The white ones come up first and then the dark purple/pink ones and then the light pink ones. They bloom fully every year right in time for my brother’s birthday (June 9^th. Gifts can be sent to him at . . . just kidding.).

If you want to read more about what we did last week, you can pop on over to yesterday’s post.

What I/We’ve been Reading

This week I am reading Death and Daisies by Amanda Flower and I should have it finished later this week. Her books are quite easy reads and fairly light. They are cozy mysteries with a bit of magic mixed in. Or at least this series (the Magical Garden series) is.

I’m also reading The Regal Pink by Jenny Knipfer. This is a fantasy/fairy book which is not usually my thing but I try to read all of Jenny’s books so I am going to try it.

At night Little Miss and I are reading Little House on Plum Creek.

The boy is finishing Fellowship of the Ring.

The Husband is reading. I can’t ask him what because he slept horribly last night and he’s taking a rest upstairs.

What We Watched/are Watching

Yesterday I watched How to Marry A Millionaire with Marilyn Monroe, Betty Grable, and Lauren Bacall (and William Powell). I started it while everyone was gone and finished it with The Husband when they came home.

I watched it years ago but had forgotten most of it.

While looking for a movie to watch I found a whole stack of blu-rays we own but that I either have not watched at all or haven’t watched in years and remember very little of. Among those movies were a bunch of Marilyn Monroe movies. The Husband pulled out a couple more of her movies when I told him I was considering watching the stack I’d made for the summer and blogging about them – or just watching them without blogging about them.

Seeing that stack of Marilyn movies made me decide I am going to have a Summer of Marilyn through the month of June and July. I’ll create a list of movies I am going to watch for a post later this week. I may be doing this one alone since Erin from Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs is super busy in June. I haven’t asked Katja yet if she wants to join but I’ll ask her later this week. I’ll also open the invitation for anyone to watch along who wants to. You do not have to blog about the movies just because I plan to.

Speaking of the Classic Movie Impressions Erin and I have been doing – the last post of our Spring of Cary will be up Thursday of this week.

I watched the movie and wrote the post but then forgot to post it on Saturday, which was the day Erin and I had decided to push it off to. Erin did not have a chance to write her post, however, because she had a very, very, full week with some fun stuff and some not-so-fun stuff.

The Husband and I also watched a Miss Marple movie this weekend (well, we will be finishing it later today) and Little Miss and I watched a ton of Mary Berry clips from YouTube one night this past week.

What I’m Writing

I am working on the second book of the Gladwynn Grant Mysteries.

Are you ready to know what it is going to be called?

I think I already mentioned it, but I’ll share again that it is going to be called Gladwynn Grant Takes Center Stage.

The first book is set to release on July 18^th, and you can either sign up for the ARC team (you do not have to promote the book all over – simply read and review it on Amazon and Goodreads) or pre-order it for 99 cents on Amazon.

This week on the blog I shared:

What I’m Listening To

I’ve been listening to playlists of vintage music as I write this week including this one:

Blog Posts I Enjoyed This Past Week

I have not read a ton of blog posts this week, but I was informed and made necessarily uncomfortable by this post about gender ideology by Abigail Shrier.

Now it’s your turn.

What have you been doing, watching, reading, listening to or writing? Let me know in the comments or leave a blog post link if you also write a weekly update like this.