Seniors Sleuth

 The first Winston Wong mystery by JJ Chow was a random selection for me.  Seniors Sleuth was offered as a free hoopla pick for Feb. and I decided to give it a go.  It was a quirky book and didn't capture my full attention right away.  As such,  I am not totally sure I am hooked on the series yet. 

My favorite parts of the story are the positive and central focus Chow places on elderly characters.   She gives them important and key roles in the story and in doing so highlights how often older people are just taken for granted or placed aside.  I wonder if this attention has anything to do with her heritage, since many Asian families live multi-generational and have respect for their elders.  

The other feature that struck a chord with me was the setting.  I attended high school in the San Jose area so I am familiar with many of the locations referenced in the book.  I always enjoy reading books where I am familiar with aspects of my real life, whether the setting or a topic covered.  

While I wasn't overly enraptured with this book I do plan to give the series another go to see if I can become more engaged with the characters.  

Seniors Sleuth by J.J. Chow
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I enjoyed this cozy mystery and appreciated the fact the author used seniors as supporting characters. It was wonderful that she made them credible and strong vs doddering incompetent people. I appreciated the Asian cultural influences to the story that she’s familiar with from her heritage. The mystery was a clever one that was constructed well. The main reason I didn’t give it a higher rating was a sense of rushing/ time warp. Things were supposedly evolving at a too rapid of pace. Even the epilogue felt like the follow up was much lengthier in time than the stated one week. I think Ms Chow has great potential to have a good series just needs to work on the time aspect and develop a bit more depth in her characters. She’d scratch at something deeper but then didn’t expand.

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Challenge Prompts

The Challenge Prompts I will use this for are:  

1. Goodreads and Reading by the Numbers #ReadingByNumbers2023 Book # 40 
2. Library Love  #LibraryLoveChallenge  Book #   33
3. Stacking the Series  #stackingseries2023 1
4. Series Catchup #seriescatchup2023 -1
5. Virtual Mount TBR #VirtualMountTBR2023   Book #35
6. Back List Reader  #Backlistreader  Book #30
7. Cruisin thru Cozies  Free choice #13
8. Cloak & Dagger  #CloakDaggerChal  Book #31
9. Craving for Cozies  Book #27
10. Medical Examiner Challenge 1 Toe Tags
11. Pick your Poison  #38 A book with an author whose name (first or last) is only four letters

A Murder for the Books

 A Murder for the Books is the first book in the Blue Ridge Library series by Victoria Gilbert. I appreciated this book as it demonstrated some of the skills that librarians utilize in their daily lives. I found Amy to be an endearing character who had visible faults that she was aware of and acknowledge to her family.  I appreciated Gilbert intertwining a plot line that addressed those insecurities and highlighted how they played a role in the arts.   This mystery had many facets to the story that were weaved together quite proficiently and in a logical fashion.  For readers interested in genealogy and family history this is a great story that incorporates that topic as a main plot driver.   I look forward to reading more in the series and learning about Amy and her relationships with Richard, her Aunt, and Sunny.  

A Murder for the Books by Victoria Gilbert
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A very engaging first book in the Blue Ridge Library mysteries. Amy is a well developed character who is overcoming the devastating outcome of her previous relationship. The results of which not only affected her personal but also her professional life. Ms Gilbert represented this blow to her self confidence very accurately and made it easy to want to know Amy.
The mystery is filled with family secrets as well as past tragedies in the town. At the center of it is the struggle within a small town to preserve its heritage vs a new development that will line the pockets of a chosen few. Just how far will the elite go to protect their investments

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Challenge Prompts

The Challenge Prompts I will use this for are:  

1. Goodreads and Reading by the Numbers #ReadingByNumbers2023 Book #28  
2. Library Love  #LibraryLoveChallenge  Book #  22 
3. Literary Escapes  #LiteraryEscapes VA
4. Alphabet Soup Author Edition #AlphabetSoupAuthorChallenge  V
5. Stacking the Series  #stackingseries2023 1
6. Series Catchup #seriescatchup2023 -1
7. Virtual Mount TBR #VirtualMountTBR2023   Book #24
8. Back List Reader  #Backlistreader  Book #20
9. Cruisin thru Cozies  Free choice #6
10. Cloak & Dagger  #CloakDaggerChal  Book #20
11. Craving for Cozies  Book #17
12. Six Shooter Challenge  Target #45  Shot #4
13. Medical Examiner Challenge 8 Toe Tags (2 poison/3 shot/2 old age/1 pushed)
14. 52 Book Club  #the52bookclub2023  #22 A Body Positive Message
15. Around the Year in 52 Books #4. A book with an interracial relationship
16. Bookworm #45 Read a book where the main character is a dancer
17. Beat the Backlist #BTB2023  #27 it’s a trope! (your favorite)
18. Nerdy Bookworm  #NerdyBookwormChallengeXO #45. Read a book with a close proximity romance
19. Nerd Daily #thenerddaily #nerdreading2023 #15. THRIFTED OR GIFTED
20. Pick your Poison  # 81 A book by an author who has a pet listed in their bio
21. Read with Allison #4 Book From 2022 TBR

The Sentence

This is my first read by Louise Erdrich and I can understand how she is such a revered author when it comes to representation of the Native cultures of the US.   Overall I liked the book even though I did not agree with much of her political comments and at times found them to be unnecessary to the story.  I appreciated the explanations of the different tribal cultures and customs and felt like they were very enlightening to begin to understand the history of the Indigenous culture in the US.  I did have concerns about the presentation of some of the storyline as it was written as being a historical account of the Covid era in the US and much of the summer protests following the George Floyd murder in Minneapolis.  I felt this was well written and explained with emotions as perceived by the characters (and much of the nation), but then Erdrich's representation of what happened in Kenosha was inaccurate and I worry about people taking all the story as 100% factual when some of it was incorrectly represented.  I did like the story on the whole and do look forward to reading more of her work.  

The Sentence by Louise Erdrich
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

interesting book that provides many perspectives

Thought provoking book with interesting perspectives on Indigenous lives in the US. While I found the story to be engaged and well plotted to fit with current events I did find some event of 2020 to have been misrepresented, specifically the Kenosha death that lead to rioting there. In some ways it made it harder for me to view the rest of the plot and messages as openly when I knew this event was being incorrectly portrayed All in all I found the book quite good and thought provoking

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Challenge Prompts

The Challenge Prompts I will use this for are:  

1. Goodreads and Reading by the Numbers #ReadingByNumbers2023 Book # 16 
2. Library Love  #LibraryLoveChallenge  Book #13   
3. Literary Escapes  #LiteraryEscapes  MN
4. Virtual Mount TBR #VirtualMountTBR2023   Book #15
5. Back List Reader  #Backlistreader  Book #13
6. 23 in 2023 # 21 A book containing Latin or that has been translated to or from Latin
7. 52 Book Club  #the52bookclub2023  #51 Doesn't Fit Any of the Other 51 prompts
8. 52 books in 52 weeks  #12 spirituality
9. Around the Year in 52 Books #9 A book nominated for an award beginning with W 
10. Bookworm #44 Read a Folklore book or book based on Folklore 
11. BooklistQueen  #booklistqueenreadingchallenge2023  #32. Contemporary Fiction Bestseller
12. Beat the Backlist #BTB2023  #13 multiple points of view
13. HP Quidditch 23 #29 Gryffindor: Related to Gryffindor house/traits
14. Nerdy Bookworm  #NerdyBookwormChallengeXO #35 A book that has mental health aspects to it
15. Nerd Daily #thenerddaily #nerdreading2023 #46  #OWNVOICES AUTHOR
16. PopSugar #popsugarreadingchallenge #5A book with mythical creatures
17. Pick your Poison  # 33 A book about a werewolf
18. RAD Challenge #aradreadingchallenge #1 By an Activist
19. Read with Allison #46 Indigenous Author
20. Sci and Nature # 28 By an Indigenous Author
21. Uncorked Reader #UncorkedReading2023 31
22. Unruly Reader Bingo  #17 Humanities

Evvie Drake Starts Over

 I've had Evvie Drake Starts Over on my to-read pile for a while now.  I selected it to read in Jan because it fits the motif of new beginnings.   I was pleasantly surprised by the story and enjoyed it thoroughly.  The development of the characters and their relationship was well thought out and made sense;  it was too Hallmark moviesque.   If you are looking for a nice feel-good romance for February I can recommend this one.  

Evvie Drake Starts Over by Linda Holmes
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I feel like I am late to the game reading this book but I’m so glad I finally got to it. It’s a little bit romance a lot of soul searching and broken people. I think anyone who has ever doubted themselves or is a people pleaser will relate to Evvie. There are definitely some humorous moments in the book and there are definitely sad moments. I loved watching her recovery and her growth as an individual. It’s an inspiring story to start off a new year

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Challenge Prompts

The Challenge Prompts I will use this for are:  

1. Goodreads and Reading by the Numbers #ReadingByNumbers2023 Book # 5 
2. Library Love  #LibraryLoveChallenge  Book # 5
3. Literary Escapes  #LiteraryEscapes  ME
4. AtoZ   #2023AtoZReadingChallenge  #AlphabetSoupChallenge  E
5. Alphabet Soup Author Edition #AlphabetSoupAuthorChallenge    H
6. Color Coded #4 Green
7. Virtual Mount TBR #VirtualMountTBR2023   Book #5
8. Back List Reader  #Backlistreader  Book #4
9. 23 in 2023 # 13  A book containing a sport
10. 52 Book Club  #the52bookclub2023  #26 Has an Epilogue
11. 52 books in 52 weeks  #10 character vs fate
12. Around the Year in 52 Books #8  An author's debut book 
13. Bookworm #46  Read a book by a new author   
14. BooklistQueen  #booklistqueenreadingchallenge2023  #25 Read with Jenna Book Club Pick
15. Beat the Backlist #BTB2023  #46  plants on the cover
16. HP Quidditch 23 #17 Keeper: Includes a character you fall in love with
17. Nerdy Bookworm  #NerdyBookwormChallengeXO #27 Read a book with a happily-ever-after ending
18. Nerd Daily #thenerddaily #nerdreading2023 #13 STANDALONE
19. PopSugar #popsugarreadingchallenge #41 A book written during NaNoWriMo
20. Pick your Poison  # 69 A book about taking chances
21. Read with Allison #11 Green Cover
22. Sci and Nature # 13 Green Cover
23. Unruly Reader Bingo  #18 Elementary
24. Monthly Motif #MonthlyMotifGXO  New Beginnings
25. Read Around the US   ME
26. TBRChallenge  #TBRChallenge Jan

Anna and Elsa's Hygge Life

 

Disney Frozen: Anna and Elsa's Hygge Life   is a fun book about Olaf discovering the meaning of Hygge.   I must admit it was a term I had heard previously but couldn't really explain what it was prior to reading this book.  I now can describe it as something that gives you a warm cozy happy feeling.  Olaf is an adorable character that finds fun in life and is a great character to represent hygge. 

Disney Frozen: Anna and Elsa's Hygge Life by Heather Knowles
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Cute kids book explaining hygge. Was a great explanation of how different experiences bring joy and warm feelings to different people. Plus what’s not cute about Olaf

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Challenge Prompts

The Challenge Prompts I will use this for are:  

1. Goodreads and Reading by the Numbers #ReadingByNumbers2023 Book #  2
2. Library Love  #LibraryLoveChallenge  Book #  2 
3. AtoZ   #2023AtoZReadingChallenge  #AlphabetSoupChallenge A
4. Alphabet Soup Author Edition #AlphabetSoupAuthorChallenge   K
5. Virtual Mount TBR #VirtualMountTBR2023   Book #2
6. Back List Reader  #Backlistreader  Book #1
7. 23 in 2023 # 20 A book with a title containing a word you don't know
8. 52 Book Club  #the52bookclub2023  #6 Under 200 pages
9. 52 books in 52 weeks  #4 hygge
10. Around the Year in 52 Books #1. A book set in a location that begins with A, T, or Y
11. Bookworm #33  Read a movie novelization book (movie to book, instead of book to movie)
12. BooklistQueen  #booklistqueenreadingchallenge2023  #35. Title Starts with “A”
13. Beat the Backlist #BTB2023  #35  letter “z” in the title
14. HP Quidditch 23 #12 Firebolt: Contains a special gift
15. Nerdy Bookworm  #NerdyBookwormChallengeXO #5 Read a book based on a tv series or movie adaptation (watch the show or movie after for fun)
16. Nerd Daily #thenerddaily #nerdreading2023 #27. A BOOK WITH ILLUSTRATIONS INSIDE
17. PopSugar #popsugarreadingchallenge #42 A book based on a popular movie
18. Pick your Poison  # 99 A book with a super cheerful person on the cover
19. Read with Allison #52 Book That Doesn't Fit Any of the Prompts:
20. Sci and Nature # 31 Flowers or Plants on the Cover:
21. What's in a Name   #6 Q, X, Z