books and reading

Book recommendation: Peg and Rose Solve A Murder

/ Lisa R. Howeler / 9 Comments


Title: Peg and Rose Solve A Murder (Senior Sleuths Mysteries)

Author: Laurien Berenson

Date published: August 2022

Pages: 288

Source: Libby/ebook (also available in paperback/hardback wherever books are sold and maybe at your library)

Genre: Cozy Mystery

Description: Rose Donovan looks for the good in everyone. With her sister-in-law, Peg, that sometimes requires a lot of searching. Even a sixty-something former nun like Rose has her limits, and gruff Peg Turnbull sure knows how to push them. But after forty years of bickering, they’re attempting to start over, partnering up to join the local bridge club.

Peg and Rose barely have a chance to celebrate their first win before one of the club’s most accomplished players is killed in his home. As the newest members, the sisters-in-law come under scrutiny and decide to start some digging of their own. Bridge is typically seen as a wholesome pastime, yet this group of senior citizens harbors a wealth of vices, including gambling, cheating, and adultery . . .

By comparison, Peg and Rose’s fractious relationship is starting to feel almost functional. But as their suspect list narrows, they’re unaware that their logic has a dangerous flaw. And they’ll have to hope that their teamwork holds steady when they’re confronted by a killer who’s through with playing games . .

What I liked:

I loved the relationship between Peg and Rose. We know right from the beginning there must be a reason the two don’t get along but is it just personality differences or something more? The layers of that onion are pulled away as we continue the book and as Peg and Rose find themselves tossed into the middle of a murder mystery.

 I enjoyed learning about the two women and how different each of their personalities were and why. Peg is very sassy, outspoken and bold while Rose is more demure, soft spoken, and a bit innocent or naïve depending on the situation.

I felt that we learned a bit more about Peg than Rose in this book but that’s totally okay. There will probably be more of a focus on Rose in future books and there was a fair amount in this book as well.

I also really liked ….

That this book was clean. I know there is a lot of debate on what clean means but for me it means there was no graphic sex and no obscenities, or very minor ones. There were a few innuendos but they were fairly tame or they weren’t and I am just too big of a prude to have understood them.

Of note: It did take until the end of Chapter 11 to get to the mystery of this book, but since it was the first in the series I cut it some slack. Usually I hope for a mystery much earlier. Once this mystery occurred, though, the sleuthing took off full force and was fun to watch.

There were also some slow parts, for me anyhow, in the beginning involving Peg’s dog show judging.

I enjoyed learning about how much Peg loves poodles and judging dog shows but I really didn’t need the entire chapter about her showing her one dog. I didn’t need it, or feel the book needed it, but it was still enjoyable to see Peg at work.

Chapter 2 was literally one of the longest chapters I ever read in a book but the rest were much much shorter.


Content warnings:

There is discussion of loss in regards to a spouse and early pregnancy and there is some focus on grief from those losses. There is also mention of adultery.

Have you tried this series yet?

Saturday Afternoon Chat: A trip to picturesque Lewisburg Pa

/ Lisa R. Howeler / 13 Comments

Last weekend my family and I headed about an hour south to visit a small town called one of the most  picturesque towns in the state of Pennsylvania — Lewisburg, Pa.

The week before had been a very long one for all of us so it was nice to escape for a little while and see some different scenery.

That weekend was also Free Comic Book Day, so the trip had actually been planned for a while to pick up some free comic books at a comic bookstore in town.  The store also is a Warhammer shop, which is the main reason our son wanted to visit it.

He has really been enjoying painting the models. He doesn’t do the gaming with the models, but he loves figuring out how to paint them to look realistic and, well, just cool. He does play the online game, read the books, and knows all the Warhammer lore.

Lewisburg is a small town featuring colonial-style homes and buildings. Many of the buildings are something I would expect to see in some parts of colonial-era Philadelphia or Gettysburg. Of course not every house is picture-worthy, but it is close. Even the churches downtown (there are three different denominations on one corner in one section) are elegant and photo-worthy.

There was an independent bookstore near the comic shop that The Husband and The Boy found on a trip they took back in November for The Boy’s birthday, and The Husband wanted me to see it.

I have some autoimmune issues, and I often get very tired out or weak in my legs, so I was worried about having to walk a lot. I had also been on my feet a ton throughout the week as I helped my elderly parents. I prayed throughout the week and the day of, though, and ended up doing just fine. I was able to walk further than I normally can and visit stores without feeling dragged out or my legs hurting, or at least not hurting as much as they sometimes do.

The Boy was thrilled with the part of the comic store which featured the Warhammer gear. It was small but still packed solid with models, paint, merchandise, books, etc.

The shop is small overall, but The Husband said there was a room in the back where the comic books were being given out and the atmopshere was very jovial. Out front the feeling was more subdued and a bit underwhelming to me after attending free comic book day celebrations in the past at other stores where cosplays and more “celebratory” events were going on. Still, the store is nicely set up and offers a good selection for it’s small size.

The Husband and The Boy had visited a pizzeria the previous time they were in town and we headed there after leaving the comic store because Little Miss was “starving.”

It was a very quiet, small and unassuming place but the food and service were amazing.

If you are ever in Lewisburg, be sure to check out Pi Pizza on Market Street. They were the nicest people and the food was great. I recommend the chicken Caesar wrap.

After eating, we walked down the street to Mondragon Books, an independent bookstore that sells a mix of new and used books and records.

It is a cozy store with its walls covered with attractive bookshelves packed to the brim with books of all genres and varieties. There is a tree inside the store, people. A beautiful tree. Okay, the tree isn’t real (I mean..I don’t think? It really looked real.) There is also a record player up front behind the counter where the owner/staff member sets records on to play throughout the speaker system. Real records.

Here is a bit about the store from its website : “Our collection focuses largely on literary fiction and poetry, social studies of all sorts, the arts, children’s books, health & wellness, the home economy, the political economy, DIY skills, nature connection, and other books that foster knowledge and power to the people.

In 2024, Mondragon relocated to 302 Market Street, across from the post office and into what was once Lewisburg’s downtown CVS (& before that Newberry’s Department Store). Aside from books, we also sell high-quality used LPs, a selection of postcards, buttons, & stickers, japanese incense, earth flags, and small goods from a few local artists.”

There are chairs, couches and other seats for customers to relax on while they look or read. I could have sat on their plush leather couch for the rest of the afternoon, but The Husband wanted me to see the three-story Barnes & Noble down the street, so, alas I had to leave. Not before grabbing a book about horses for Little Miss and a book of recipes by artist Georgia O’Keefe.

I hope to go back there again and simply take my time looking at each and every book there.

About a block from this bookstore is the Barnes & Noble/Bucknell University campus bookstore and spirit shop, built in 2017.

The first floor is the Barnes & Noble and a snack shop. An escalator leads to the second floor where merchandise and gear representing Bucknell University is held. The third floor is a campus bookstore where textbooks and other college supplies can be found.

Bucknell is not a “ivy league” school but it is considered very close and offers what most consider “high academics”.

From what we could tell the students there really like to party.

When The Husband took The Boy in November they walked past a frat party and there was another one going on on like an entire block near the playground we stopped to visit. The music was so loud it was like we were at a live concert.

One thing I learned while visiting Lewisburg is that fat people do not live there.

Almost all of the women I saw were well-dressed, skinny or in amazing shape and were jogging, walking, or running.

I only saw one or two overweight girls. I also didn’t see very many people who “looked poor” in this part of Lewisburg. Whatever that means.  Ha! I just mean they were all dressed very nice with expensive clothes and shoes.

On our way out of this part of Lewisburg, I did see an entirely different side of the town, which I guess is “the other side of the tracks” since it was literally across the railroad tracks. The homes in this part of time looked more like average day homes and the people who lived in them are probably people I would hang out with versus the more wealthy people a couple of which who watched me with a suspicious eye when I was in the Barnes & Noble and the comic store.

While the Barnes & Noble was very nice, I was not that bowled over by their book selection. That might be because I am used to the old Barnes & Noble that had rows and rows of bargain books and book genres and an entire wall of journals. Also, I didn’t explore every inch of the place so there was probably more there than I realized.

Their mystery section was not very exciting to me, and I noticed the store focused more on the romance genre than anything else. The store is operated by Bucknell University and was built in 1942. It once housed a Hardware Store and there is a small display on the lower floor of some historic items found in the building when they were demolishing the inside to renovate it. I wish I had grabbed a photo of that but I didn’t think to.

After leaving the Barnes & Noble we found a playground for Little Miss to have some fun on.

There was a lilac bush there that had clearly started blooming a few days earlier and they smelled amazing.

We also took a small tour of the Bucknell campus and visited their stadium.

That was our last stop in town before heading home and crashing in our separate corners of the house in silence for a few hours, which is something this family of introverts does every time we go somewhere we have to deal with other human beings.

How was your week last week?

Do anything interesting or exciting?

Let me know in the comments or link up below.

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What I actually read from my Winter TBR

/ Lisa R. Howeler / 12 Comments

I always plan lists for what I will read each “season” of the year but rarely stick to those lists.

I made a list for this winter, but, once again, I strayed from it. I don’t know what I was thinking by making this list. There was no way I was going to read all these books in three months.

My winter TBR included these books:

Christy by Catherine Marshall

Little Men by Louisa May Alcott

The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman

Tooth and Claw by Craig Johnson

World Travel by Anthony Bourdain

The Christmas Swap by Melody Carlson

A Christmas Quilt by Melody Carlson

The Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien

The Scarlet Pimpernel by  Baroness Orczy

The Clue in The Diary by Carolyn Keene

The Sign of the Twisted Candles by Carolyn Keene

Winter Murder by Agatha Christie

The Ghost and Mrs. Muir R.A. Dick

The Hardy Boys: The Mystery of the Flying Express by Franklin W. Dixon

The Body in the Library by Agatha Christie

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley

The Bobbsey Twins on Blueberry Island by Laura Lee Hope

What I actually read from the list:

Death Comes to Marlow by Robert Thorogood

A Quilt for Christmas by Melody Carlson

The Hound of the Baskerville’s by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Tooth and Claw by Craig Johnson

Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes

The Body in the Library by Agatha Christie

Shepherd’s Abiding by Jan Karon

Christy by Catherine Marshall

The Tuesday Night Club by Agatha Christie

The Answer is No by Fredrik Backman

Every Living Thing by James Herriot

The Sign of the Twisted Candles by Carolyn Keene.

I will have a smaller list I plan to choose from for my spring TBR tomorrow and I have a feeling I won’t read all those books either.

Did you reach any reading goals recently?

Top Ten Tuesday: My Top Reads of 2024

/ Lisa R. Howeler / 20 Comments

|| Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. ||

Today’s prompt is “Best Books I Read in 2024”

I have a list of 16 books I enjoyed from my 2024 list, but I whittled them down to ten for today. I’m going to leave my favorite read from the year at number 10.

  1. The Cat Who Talked to Ghosts by Lilian Jackson Braun

I have read most of the books in The Cat Who series and this one was definitely my favorite. Honestly, it almost felt like it was written by a different author in some ways. I enjoyed most of the books in the series even though this one felt different.

2. Miracles on Maple Hill by Virginia Sorenson

I really enjoyed this middle grade book that takes place in my home state of Pennsylvania. There were some tough topics here — such as PTSD after war —— but they were handled gingerly.

3. Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers by Jesse Q. Sutanto

This one was different than many of my other reads and not “clean” by some standards because of language, but I fell in love with the main character and the side characters. I can’t wait for the sequel!

4. Murder in an Irish Village by Carlene O’Connor

This one also featured some language but otherwise was clean and a lot of fun. I loved this cozy mystery that took place in a small Irish village and I can’t wait to read more in the series. I hope they are as good as the first book.

5. Move Your Blooming Corpse by D.E. Ireland

This was the second book in a series based on the characters of My Fair Lady – Eliza Doolittle and Professor Henry Higgins. The book was a ton of fun from start to finish.

6. The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

I had seen the movie based on this book but had never read the book. I read it and then read it again to my daughter shortly after so I guess I read it twice in 2024. The ending was a bit too abrupt to me, but I still enjoyed it.

7. Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne

Yep, this was another classic I had never read and I ended up really enjoying it.

8. The Clue of The Whistling Bagpipes by Carolyn Keene

This was a Nancy Drew Mystery and while they can be a bit cheesy at times, I really enjoyed this one because it was full of Scottish history and culture.

9. Return to Gone Away Lake by Elizabeth Enright

This was another middle-grade book that I read with Little Miss and really enjoyed. We had read Gone Away Lake, the first book in the series in 2023.

10. The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery

This was by far my favorite read of the year and my favorite read from the past several years. This book was so much different than the Anne of Green Gables books and I sometimes wonder how they are so different in their language and style. I don’t usually write in or mark up my paperback books but I underlined and marked so many passages in this book. If you haven’t read it, I would definitely encourage you to move it up your TBR list.

Honorable mentions:

Other books I enjoyed this year include:

The Sentence is Death by Anthony Horowitz (A Hawthorne/Horowtiz Mystery)

Clueless at the Coffee Station by Bee Littlefield

The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie

Murder Always Barks Twice by Jennifer Hawkins

A Quilt for Christmas by Melody Carlson

The Middle Moffat by Eleanor Estes

Have you read any of these books? What did you think of them? And what books were among your favorite reads in 2024?

My books aren’t making money and I’m never going to be famous but writing fiction is fun

/ Lisa R. Howeler / 8 Comments

I am very excited to be getting closer to the release of Gladwynn Grant Shakes the Family Tree.

I don’t have an exact release date just yet but the manuscript is in the editing stage with corrections being made.

From there it will go through another round of edits and another round of corrections and read throughs by beta readers, formatting, etc. etc.

It is all very exciting and overwhelming at the same time but I’m leaning more toward exciting at the time of writing this post.

Maybe you’re new to the blog and don’t know that I write books and self-publish them. Sometimes I share chapters on here, but I haven’t been doing that recently.

Instead, my books are available on Kindle Unlimited and for reasonable prices on Amazon at this time.

Self-publishing books is not a lucrative business for me.

I am also not a famous author (not that was ever my goal).

Sometimes people complain I have a typo or suggest that I am endorsing something I am not endorsing and that gets weird and makes writing books not so fun.

Most of the time, though, writing books is fun.

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I like sharing stories that I have crafted in my own brain.

I like when people like my creations.

I have especially been blown away by the support of my Gladwynn Grant Mystery books.

If you don’t know, Gladwynn Grant is the main character of the series and she’s loosely based on my grandmother, whose middle and maiden name she bears.

Gladwynn’s grandmother, Lucinda, who she lives with, is based on a combination of both of my grandmothers.

Gladwynn is a reporter at a small town newspaper, which is a job I did for 14 years at four different newspapers. Gladwynn, however, is not me.

She is very different from me.

She is tall, brunette, beautiful, loves fashion and makeup, and full of confidence.

I am none of those things. I like to look at fashion but I never really worried much about how I look. How I ever landed my husband I have no idea. I guess he’s attracted to troll-like women wearing baggy clothes who don’t know how to brush or fix her hair.

So Gladwynn is based loosely on me but only on the part that she works at a small town newspaper.

A lot of people think that the reviews on a self-published/indie book are from friends and family of the author. This was actually said one time in a reading group I used to be a part of.

My family and friends have not reviewed my books. Actually, most of my family and friends have not even read my books. That hurts a little but people are busy. I’m not going to say that none of the reviews I have on the Gladwynn books are from friends because that would not be true. There are two or three reviews from friends I’ve connected with online.

There are also reviews from people I have never met or even heard of in my life and those are the reviews that have blown me away.

People really like my book? Wow. That’s super mind-blowing to me.

My books are simple stories, sometimes cheesy. They are not award winning. They are not the best written and even when they are edited I somehow seem to mess up on making the corrections and eliminating the typos.

Yet people have supported them and have said they look forward to more.

I would love to write books and just share them on Amazon for 99 cents since I don’t know how to share them for free, so people can read them and just have fun reading them or not reading them. After all, they only spent 99 cents on it so if they don’t like the book then they aren’t out much.

Charging only a dollar for a book makes a book look cheap, though, so I’ve been told, so I charge a little more.

If I make money from the sale of the books it does help my family. I’m able to put a little money toward groceries or a bill and that helps.

But people reading my book and saying they like it is like getting paid in a different way. It’s paying me back for all the long hours of writing, the nights laying awake with ideas prodding my subconscious, begging to be written down. The time I asked my children if I could have some time to finish the story I’d started because I wanted to see how it finished. The time I took suggestions from early readers on  how to fix a plot hole. The time I took to fix all the edits my editor (ahem..husband) and Mom suggested.

When readers tell me they liked my book it’s like someone saying, “Your ideas weren’t stupid. Your love of writing is something I’m glad you have because I’ve benefited from it too by reading a story I enjoyed.”

If you’re one of those people who have enjoyed my little stories – thank you for taking the time to read them! If you’re one of those who left me a review on Amazon or Goodreads or sent me a note to tell me you liked them – thank you!

If you want to read my books, you can find them here: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Lisa-Howeler/author/B07Y3W52FD

I can’t wait to keep sharing more of my creations with my readers – whether they be friends, family, or strangers.

Sunday Chat: Winter weather, Christmas events, Christmas movies, and a dud mystery book

/ Lisa R. Howeler / 27 Comments

Welcome to my Sunday Chat where I ramble about what’s been going on in my world, what the rest of the family and I have been reading, watching, listening to, and what I’ve been writing.

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

It is hard for me to explain to people from larger, more urban areas just how small the little town I live in is. Sometimes numbers help – there are about 400 people in my town, 6,000 total in the entire county, and then in the summer the numbers go up some as visitors from the city come up to stay in cabins in the county. There is one elementary school and one high school for the entire county and it’s all located in one town – which is the county seat.

When there are events in our tiny town it’s not always very exciting and there isn’t always a lot to see, but the organizations and business owners try their best.

Yesterday there was a book sale at the local library for the town Christmas festival, and I went but was a bit disappointed in the selection this year. It was not their fault at all – there just wasn’t a lot of books that interested me this time around — yet I somehow still managed to come home with about 11.

There was also a strange but sort of funny exchange with the library director before I left about library bags and if I wanted one. I think I was misunderstanding the man but when he put the books I bought in a bag he said something about how they usually only use those bags for library books when they are taken out. He said they had boxes for people to carry books in from the sale. I asked him if he wanted me to take a box instead and he said, “Oh, no, we should be good with bags right now. We just got an order of 400 in.”

If they just got 400 in I’m not sure why he was telling me they don’t usually use the books for the sale, but thinking back, maybe he was simply sharing about how they don’t usually use them but decided to on that day because they had just received an order for them. I have no idea but I have to admit that later in the day I felt guilty that I had taken one of their bags. Yes, those are the kind of thoughts that pop into my mind when other people wouldn’t have given it a second thought the rest of the day.

I was very excited to find a copy of The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman since I have been interested in reading that for a while now.

I also picked up a copy of The Scarlet Pimpernel, which I have wanted to read after seeing a movie based on it years ago.

Jimmy Stewart and His Poems is a book I’ll have fun reading this winter, I think. It shouldn’t take me long. It’s very short.

I also picked up two mass-market editions of The Two Towers and The Return of the King from the Lord of the Rings trilogy so I can easily slide The Two Towers in my purse when I start to read it later this winter.

The “winter festival” is capped off by a very short, very cold Christmas parade each year. The “festival” was supposed to feature vendors and S’mores stations but there ended up being one tiny S’mores station and no craft vendors — unless they were tucked away in one of the other buildings in town.

We skipped the parade because we tried to go to it two years ago and it was so cold that I couldn’t feel my fingers. I also couldn’t breathe because the cold triggered my asthma – or whatever it is I have that makes breathing in the cold very difficult for me.

Last week our temps were in the low 50s one day and next week will be the same but yesterday our high was 30 and it was in the low 20s when it was time for the parade.

No, thank you.

We are down to one car right now so we don’t go many places during the week but on Fridays Little Miss and I travel to get groceries. With the weather being so cold we don’t do much other than pick up our pick up order and come back  home, stopping at my parents on the way through to drop off a few groceries we pick up for them.

We did that this Friday, and it was a fairly uneventful trip. We were glad to get back to the house and enjoy the fire in the woodstove and the Christmas tree we decorated a couple of weeks ago.

I’m really hoping to sit by that tree and read a Christmas short story or two later this week.

Our upcoming homeschooling week is going to be fairly laid back with Christmas-themed crafts and baking and vintage Christmas stories heavily mixed into regular, scaled-back lessons.

This week I finished Death Comes to Marlow by Robert Thorogood and was very disappointed in it. It was repetitive and dragged quite a bit. I had high hopes for it and thought I might continue the series but now I am not so sure.

I continued The Hound of The Baskerville’s by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and will most likely finish it this week.

I abandoned one of my planned Christmas reads because it was deeply depressing. Instead, I continued to read Christy by Catherine Marshall, which I am borrowing on my Kindle through Libby.

I might sneak in a last Christmas novella, The Christmas Swap by Melody Carlson, before Christmas. I’ll see if I make it that far since I am also in the middle of making corrections to Gladwynn Grant Shakes the Family Tree (releasing sometime in early 2025).

Little Miss hasn’t been reading much of Harry Potter, but I figure she will pick it up again later this week. The Boy is listening to The Hound of the Baskerville’s for English/British Literature.

I forgot to ask The Husband what he is reading but I know he’s read 113 books this year.

This past week I watched two Hallmark movies and then an older Hallmark movie that is one of the best ones I’ve ever seen — Trading Christmas (I wrote about it in this post from last year.)

We also watched a classic Christmas with Garfield from the 1980s and half of A Miracle on 34th Street, which we will hopefully finish tonight.

This week I hope to watch The Christmas Candle this week and other Christmas-related shows or movies.

I am currently working on edits to Gladwynn Grant Shakes The Family Tree. I hate edits – or fixing the manuscript after it’s been given back to me by editors and beta readers. It’s so tedious. But once it is done, I’ll be able to release the book and add it to the other two.

This week on the blog I shared:

|| Little Lord Fauntleroy Marathon by Cat’s Wire ||

|| A Fall Hike in Turkey Run State Park by Amy’s Creative Pursuits ||

|| Gingerbread Candy Kitchen and Hutch by Debbie Dabble Christmas ||

|| Peace on Earth, Second Sunday of Advent by Big Sky Buckeye ||

Don’t forget that Erin and I are hosting the Comfy, Cozy Christmas link-up, which you can find at the top of the page. The link-up is for any holiday-related posts.

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.

10 Christmas books to read this year

/ Lisa R. Howeler / 16 Comments

|| Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. ||

(Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.)

This week we have a freebie post so now that we are in December, I thought I’d share some book ideas to get you into the Christmas or holiday feels.

Did I just write “feels”? Oh my … I did. Let us overlook that and carry on . . .

  1. Shepherd’s Abiding by Jan Karon

I’m starting with this one because this is one I read or read parts of each year now. It’s a favorite Christmas book for me. As my sister-in-law said last night when we were chatting, reading a Jan Karon book is like walking into a warm hug and this book is no different. It’s heartwarming, even though there are some tough topics in it, especially about Father Tim (he’s an Episcopalian priest) as he grapples with his past relationship with his late father.

Description: Millions of Americans have found Mitford to be a favorite home-away-from-home, and countless readers have long wondered what Christmas in Mitford would be like. The eighth Mitford novel provides a glimpse, offering a meditation on the best of all presents: the gift of one’s heart.

Since he was a boy, Father Tim has lived what he calls “the life of the mind” and has never really learned to savor the work of his hands. When he finds a derelict nativity scene that has suffered the indignities of time and neglect, he imagines the excitement in the eyes of his wife, Cynthia, and decides to undertake the daunting task of restoring it. As Father Tim begins his journey, readers are given a seat at Mitford’s holiday table and treated to a magical tale about the true Christmas spirit.

2. A Quilt for Christmas by Melody Carlson

I am actually reading this one right now and am enjoying it.

Description: In this heartwarming Christmas story, widowed Vera Swanson is feeling lonely until young Fiona Albright knocks on her door needing help. With Fiona’s mother seriously ill, Fiona asks Vera to make a special Christmas quilt for her. Vera gathers a group of women, including an artist, a chatty empty nester, and a retired therapist, to fulfill the request. Along the way, Vera discovers the joy of friendship and the warmth of a new “family” during the holiday season.

3. Waiting for Christmas by Lynn Austin

I have not read this one, but have heard good things about Lynn’s work.

Decription: For the first time in her privileged life, Adelaide Forsythe won’t be swept up in it. She couldn’t be happier about the prospect of a quieter Christmas. That’s not to say her transition from Miss to Mrs. has been without challenge. Though she doesn’t regret marrying for love instead of wealth, she can barely light the hearth or cook more than burnt toast. She feels woefully unprepared to run her own household.
Then, on the first Sunday of Advent, winter winds bring change through two unlikely means: a young orphan boy, hiding near Adelaide’s front steps, and a seasoned housekeeper who seems too good to be true.
The boy, Jack, claims he isn’t an orphan at all and is desperate to reunite his family. Adelaide and her husband Howard work tirelessly to solve the riddle of Jack’s story, while Adelaide’s new endeavors open her eyes to a world beyond her past experience—and all the challenge and possibility it holds. As Christmas approaches, small glimmers of wonder light the way toward the answers Adaleide seeks and the most miraculous gift of all.

4.  An Ivy Hill Christmas: A Tales from Ivy Hill  By Julie Klassen

(I have not read this one but it sounds good.)

Description: The younger son of Ivy Hill’s family, Richard Brockwell, hasn’t been home for Christmas for years. He prefers to live in the London townhouse, far away from everyone. His mother threatens to stop funding his carefree life–unless he comes home for Christmas. Out of options, he sets out for Ivy Hill, planning to be back on a coach bound for London and his unencumbered bachelor life as soon as the festivities are over.
But Christmas in the country presents unforeseen surprises, including encounters with an orphaned apprentice, the first love he disappointed years ago, and Arabella Awdry, a young lady who is far more appealing than he recalled . . . and determined to have nothing to do with him.

5. A Christmas Carol and other Christmas Writings by Charles Dickens

(have not read all of these, but have read A Christmas Carol and I did enjoy it.)

Description: This selection of Dickens’s Christmas writings confirms his lasting influence upon our idea of the Christmas spirit: that Christmas is a time for celebration, charity, and memory.

In addition to the beloved A Christmas Carol, this volume includes such festive works as “Christmas Festivities,” “The Story of the Goblins Who Stole a Sexton,” “A Christmas Tree,” “The Seven Poor Travellers,” The Haunted Man and the Ghost’s Bargain, and a Christmas episode from Master Humphrey’s Clock. Beyond the holly and the ivy, Charles Dickens’ writings show readers his references to societal issues in nineteenth century England that revolve around Christmas. Dickens explores issues, which relate to class and memory in order to achieve deeper meaning and human qualities for the characters he creates.

6. A Vintage Christmas by various authors

(I read a couple of these stories from a book similar to this last year and did enjoy them! I hope to read more from it this year. I think I actually listened to a couple too on Audible.)

Delight lovers of classics with this timeless treasury! From Twain’s missive—penned as “Santa Claus” to his 3-year-old daughter—to charming fireside moments, this Christmas collection features 23 nostalgic tales from Alcott, Dickens, Stowe, Twain, Montgomery, and Howells, along with the poetry of Cook, Rossetti, Thackeray, Kilmer, Longfellow, and Coleridge. Includes a presentation page for personalized gifting.

5. A Regency Christmas Wish by Various authors:

(Erin from Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs turned me on to these types of books last year. There are various versions of these books, all with different novellas collected into one volume. I had to hunt for these books as they are not all in print anymore, with many of them only available on used sites. I tracked this one down on Thriftbooks. I read two of the novellas last year and I’m going to read a couple more this December. I am not a huge romance reader but these are very light and sweet.)

Description: This collection of five holiday-themed Regency romances includes all-new stories by award-winning and bestselling authors Edith Layton, Emma Jensen, Sandra Heath, Barbara Metzger, and Carla Kelly. Celebrate the joys of Christmas in Regency England with five new stories by some of the most beloved Regency authors of all time. Ringing in the season with fireside warmth, holiday wishes, and Yuletide romance, these stories capture the essence of Christmas. A sparkling collection sure to delight readers all year round, with warmth, cheer, and love.

7. Finding Father Christmas/Engaging Father Christmas (2 books in 1) by Robin Jones Gunn

Description: Two heartwarming Yuletide tales in one volume! In Finding Father Christmas, Miranda’s search for her dad leads her to England where a family welcomes her. Should she reveal her true identity and destroy their idyllic image of her parent? And in Engaging Father Christmas, Miranda plans to accept Ian’s proposal—but the Whitcomb matriarch withholds her blessing.

8. All is Calm/All is Bright (two novellas in one) by Colleen Cobble

Description: Curl up with this Yuletide duo! In All Is Calm, special ops agent Brendan and murder witness Lauren seek refuge at Bluebird Ranch. Can they catch the killer? And in All Is Bright, Delilah is deliberately run off the road. Sheriff Tom Bourne is determined to protect her. Will he save her from her shadowy attacker?

9. The Christmas Candle by Max Lucado

(I have watched the movie this is based on but have not read the book.)

Description: Imagine a Victorian England village in the Cotswolds where very little out of the ordinary ever happens . . . except at Christmas time.

This year, Edward Haddington, a lowly candle maker, is visited by a mysterious angel. That angel silently imparts a precious gift—a gift that’s bungled and subsequently lost. The candle maker and his wife, Bea, struggle to find the gift.

And when they do, they have to make a difficult choice. Who among their community is most in need of a Christmas miracle?

10. You Make it Feel Like Christmas by Toni Shiloh

(I have not read this one yet but I’ve wanted to read one by Shiloh so I might try to squeeze it in this year.)

Description: It’s the most wonderful time of the year–for everyone except Starr Lewis.

As if going home for the holidays jobless and single wasn’t bad enough, she’s dragged into a holiday season full of activities leading up to her sister’s uber-romantic Christmas Eve wedding–to Starr’s ex-boyfriend. But when her brother’s best friend, Waylon Emmerson, attends their family Thanksgiving, she starts to wonder if maybe coming home for Christmas isn’t so bad after all.

As Starr finds the perfect distraction in helping Waylon make over his late mother’s Christmas shop, the most wonderful time of the year works its magic and the spark between them grows. But with the holidays fast approaching, Starr must decide what she wants out of life after the gifts are unwrapped and the ornaments are put away–to go back to New York City or to open her heart to a love that will last beyond Christmas Day?

Have you read any of these books? Or are you reading anything Christmas-related this year? Let me know in the comments.

*This post is also part of the Comfy, Cozy Christmas Link Up for 2024. If you have a Christmas/holiday post you would like to share you can find the link HERE or at the top of the page here on my blog.

Sunday Bookends: Getting into the Christmas spirit already

/ Lisa R. Howeler / 22 Comments

Welcome to my Sunday Morning Chat where I ramble about what’s been going on in my world, what the rest of the family and I have been reading, watching, listening to, and what I’ve been writing.

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

The Christmas spirit is already on its way, even though I wasn’t sure I was ready for it. Yesterday the kids decorated the tree, and we chose some Christmas movies to watch later in the month – they didn’t seem to watch them yesterday so I watched The Man Who Invented A Christmas again to get in the Christmas mood.

While we decorated The Husband was performing in a radio play of It’s A Wonderful Life, which we will see the second showing of today.

He’s been rehearsing for the play for the last couple of months and been having a blast. We didn’t go last night because he had to go two hours early and we didn’t want to wait while he got ready, but today we will go with my dad to see it. I thought it was too cold for my mom to come out so I suggested she stay home. We are supposed to have a high of 26 today and yesterday we had a windchill of 13 so I doubt today will be any better.

Last week we had a nice, small Thanksgiving with my parents. My sister-in-law has been facing some health issues so she and my brother stayed home. She is improving but traveling was not really in her best interest this year.

The Husband and I made dinner and took it there. After dinner, we played charades at the urging of Little Miss (who enjoys playing games) and watched part of a movie together. On Friday it was grocery pick-up time for me and yesterday it was staying inside keeping the fire going to cut down on the heating oil costs because it was so cold outside.

This upcoming week I only have one event which I may or may not go to, depending on how we feel and how much we want to brave the cold.

What I/we’ve been Reading

I am reading quite slowly right now so I am still reading Death Comes to Marlow by Robert Thorogood and also A Quilt for Christmas by Melody Carlson, which I started yesterday and was pulled right into.

I think I’ll finish A Quilt for Christmas this week since it is very short and cozy at 171 pages long.

Death to Marlow is moving along briskly as well, but I read that mainly at night.

I have borrowed Christy by Catherine Marshall from Libby again since I ran out of time to read it before it had to be returned, but I have a feeling it will go back again – not because it isn’t good. I am enjoying it very much, but I like taking my time with it. I am going to look for a used copy of it to read over the winter.

I am also reading and listening to The Hound of The Baskerville’s by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle with The Boy for British Literature.

This past week I finished The Secret of the Wooden Lady by Carolyn Keene and left a review HERE.

After I finish the two books mentioned above, and continue Christy, I hope to read Lynn Austin’s Christmas book The Wish Book Christmas and Toni Shiloh’s You Make It Feel Like Christmas. I’m not a huge romance fan so I’ll see if I make it through Shiloh’s book. I know she’s a good writer so if I do set t aside it won’t be because of that. It’s just because some romances aren’t my “thing.”

Little Miss and I have been reading And Then There Were Five by Elizabeth Enright at night. Last Sunday she read Harry Potter And The Chamber of Secrets for three straight hours at my parents, taking breaks only for some lunch, a snack of whip cream, and getting a drink. This week she hasn’t read as much but instead we’ve been listening to The Greatest Christmas Pageant ever and then started Caddie Woodlawn again the other night because it’s a favorite of hers.

The Boy is reading The Hound of the Baskerville’s with me, as I mentioned above.

The Husband is reading, but he’s at the play as I am writing this and I might forget to ask him before I hit publish so if I do, I’ll i

What I’ve Been Writing

This past week on the blog I shared:

Comfy, Cozy Christmas

Once again this year Erin (Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs) and I are going to be sharing Christmas-themed posts in a link up that you can find at a link at the top of my page. Up there where it says, Home, About, My Books, etc. etc. The link is on a page and you can add your Christmas-themed links from now to January 2!

Erin does such a good job with the graphics for these events. This year she featured our pets in the graphic. It’s so cute and … well, comfy and cozy. Ha!

What We’ve Been Watching

Last week I watched a lot of Murder She Wrote. I write about the show from time to time but I really haven’t seen a lot of the episodes so it’s been interesting to watch through them and either giggle at some of the silliness or get wrapped up in the mysteries – which actually hold together pretty well.

I also watched some of my farmer show on YouTube – Just A Few Acres Farm. One video was just him riding on a tractor with no other sounds and it was seriously the most relaxing thing I’ve seen in a while. I did write some and build the fire while watching but it was very calming somehow. My Sunday morning routine is watching the sermon online with The Husband and then watching Just A Few Acres to try to ease into my day.

Later in the week I watched a show called Now Hear This With Scott Yoo and yesterday I watched a documentary on Leonardo Da Vinci.

Recent Blog Posts I Enjoyed

|| November Reflections by Stray Thoughts ||

|| Stocking Fillers 2024 Gift Guide by Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs ||


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.

Fiction Friday: Gladwynn Grant Shakes the Family Tree (cozy mystery) excerpt

/ Lisa R. Howeler / 4 Comments

It feels like forever since I released a Gladwynn book but here I am about to release the third book in the series – Gladwynn Grant Shakes the Family Tree.

The book will be released in early 2025 and today I thought I’d share an excerpt to wet your appetite for the next installment.

If you have not read either of the first two books, no worries, this excerpt won’t provide any spoilers for you.

If you would like to read the other two books in the series you can find them here (they are on sale this weekend for Black Friday and Cyber Monday!):

Gladwynn Grant Gets Her Footing:

Gladwynn Grant Takes Center Stage

If you would like to be an ARC reader for this third book, you can sign up here: https://forms.gle/utLujLm6QamozPKJ8

And now your sneak peek of the next book!

“Who caters this event is a decision to be made by the board, Richard, not you.”

Gladwynn Grant tried her best to focus on the task at hand – setting up food for a taste testing for the Harksdale Chamber of Commerce’s fundraiser – but the sharpness of the woman’s tone startled her, causing her to turn around quickly.

Gladwynn had offered to help her friend Abbie Mendoza for the afternoon, with them both hoping that Brewed Awakening, Gladwynn’s favorite coffee shop and Abbie’s place of employment, would be able to land the catering job for the upcoming event.

Neither of them had expected a verbal argument to break out between two of the board members before the tasting had even begun. Gladwynn cast Abbie a questioning look and received a brief wince and shrug in return.

An awkward hush fell over the small gathering in the sunroom at the Harksdale Country Club. Gladwynn turned away again, deciding to keep her back to the drama and instead focus on the job of setting out homemade eclairs on silver trays.

A man’s voice, deep and clearly irritated, responded to the woman’s comment. “That’s all well and good but the board isn’t making the decisions it needs to and this event is right around the corner.”

“We’re here to make a decision today, aren’t we?”

“Yes, with a business I didn’t even recommend.”

Another deep voice: “Richard, don’t be rude to our guests. We are hosting tastings with the businesses you recommended as well.”

“And those businesses can offer us much more than this mom-and-pop coffee shop ever could,” Richard spat.

“It’s actually just a mom coffee shop now.” Abbie offered. A quick glance from Gladwynn showed that Abbie, with her red-blond hair pulled back in a ponytail, was timidly smiling. “Marylou’s husband passed away four years ago.”

Gladwynn turned in time to see the man, who must be Richard, whipping his head around to look at Abbie, staring her down with wide, dark brown eyes as if he wasn’t sure who she was or why she had been speaking to him.

Gladwynn coughed gently. “I don’t want to interrupt, but we do have some samples set up here for you all so if nothing else comes of this meeting today, at least you can enjoy some refreshments.”

The woman who had introduced herself earlier as Beatrice Baxter, the director of the chamber, lifted her chin and turned away from Richard. Her previously tense expression relaxed, and a forced smile replaced it. “Yes, of course. Thank you so much. We can continue our conversation later,” she shot Richard a quick look that Gladwynn could only describe as a warning, “In private.”

A small huff came from Richard as he pulled his shoulders back sharply and straightened them into a tense posture. Beatrice walked quickly past him to the front of the room.

Serving food samples to potential clients wasn’t Gladwynn’s regular job or forte. Her regular job was as a newspaper reporter for the Brookstone Beacon – the newspaper of the small town she now lived in. She was here on this day as a favor to Abbie after Abbie’s co-worker had come down with a cold.

The owner of Brewed Awakening, Marylou Landry, had stayed behind to watch the shop. She’d been nervous about even applying to cater for the event since Harksdale’s residents were usually accustomed to more fine dining than what Brewed Awakening – a laid back, down to earth café and coffee shop – offered.

Harksdale was a small village made up mainly of expensive cabins, inns, and resorts. Located near state game lands, it was nestled in the middle of trees and hills in the proverbial middle of nowhere. Many of its wealthy residents traveled from more urban areas and cities and then lived in Harksdale only on weekends or during the summer.

For more than 100 years Harksdale had been known by locals as a haven to the more “well-to-do folks”.

Gladwynn offered her broadest smile to each person as they approached the table. Glancing to her right she saw Abbie doing the same, though a little more tentatively. Richard’s outburst and biting comment about Brewed Awakening had clearly shaken her.

Gladwynn knew that landing the catering job would be a huge boon to Marylou.  She also knew that Abbie wanted to do the best she could for her beloved employer. Gladwynn couldn’t blame her. Brewed Awakening had become one of her favorite places to visit since she’d moved to Brookstone to live with her grandmother almost a year and a half ago. A cozy, down-to-earth coffee shop with a  bookstore attached to it? Yes, please, and thank you.

There were seven board members, and five volunteers present at the event, but Beatrice has explained it would be the board who would make the final decision on who would cater the event. The volunteers were simply there for input.

Conversations blended together among the people in the room, creating a soft hum.

Gladwynn noticed Richard and Beatrice sat as far away from each other as possible. Richard was scowling more and more with each bite he took.

Richard had arrived late, after the introductions of the other board members had been made, his face flushed. By then, Abbie had been detailing what food the group would be sampling and offering each of the attendants’ sheets to not only show the menu but to allow them to mark down any potential substitutes they might want later.

It was during the final set up that Richard had begun the aggressive conversation with Beatrice.  Gladwynn hadn’t heard his question or comment, only Beatrice’s response.