ALL BOOKED UP by MELODY CARLSON (Pgs 272)
Goodreads Review: Empty nester and widow Riva Owen lives in the Victorian house that's been in her family for three generations, but finances have become a challenge she can no longer ignore. Her daughter is pushing her to move, and after considering all her options, Riva knows selling would be the smartest course. But she just can't bring herself to leave years of memories--and her cherished library filled with hundreds of books.
When she pursues an alternative--opening her home to women like her who have been forced to make lifestyle changes and need a room to rent--Riva is unprepared for the mix of personalities and peculiarities of her new housemates. She is even more unprepared for Marcus, the handsome and handy older brother of one of her new tenants. The possibility of finding love again feels overwhelming, even as her tenants seem to have romantic schemes of their own.
I don't normally read Christian fiction or romance, but I like this author and the story was enjoyable.
A Vampire in the Bathhouse - 208 pages
Niko Izuki, Jacqueline Fung (Translator)
Summary (From Goodreads)
A heartwarming and hilarious comedy manga about a hot vampire who just wants to unwind and the family who runs the bathhouse where he crashes. Escape to a world of steam and relaxation...and get the blood flowing!
Luka is your picture perfect vampire--he’s good looking, he’s regal... He’s also usually incredibly hungover and exhausted, and wants nothing more than a change of pace from his routine! When he takes a peek into the human world, he finds just the cure he’s looking for--a relaxing bathhouse that will surely cure him of his hangover and rejuvenate him from head to toe. To blow his fatigue out of the water, Luka pays a visit to Mangetsu no Yu bathhouse where he meets the bathhouse’s eldest son, Sakura. But between the bathhouse being short staffed and taking care of his little brother, Sakura has enough to worry about without a bougie vampire being added to the mix!
Review
This was a funny and charming slice of life story with a relaxed pace and a relaxing atmosphere. I honestly wish it had been made into a series, rather than left as one singular, standalone volume!
318 pages
A stunning, hilarious memoir from beloved comedian Jo Koy, “far and away one of the funniest people out there” (Chelsea Handler). Mixed Plate illuminates the burning drive and unique humor that make Jo Koy one of today’s most successful comedians. Includes never-before-seen photos.
Well guys, here it is—my story. A funny, sad, at times pathetic but also kick-ass tale of how a half-Filipino, half-white kid whose mom thought (and still thinks) his career goal was to become a clown became a success. Not an overnight success, because that would have made for a really short read, but an All-American success who could give my immigrant mom the kind of life she hoped for when she came to this country, and my son the kind of life I wished I’d had as a kid. With all the details of what it felt like to get the doors closed in my face, to grind it out on the road with my arsenal of dick jokes, and how my career finally took off once I embraced the craziness of my family, which I always thought was uniquely Filipino but turns out is as universal as it gets.
In this book, I’ll take you behind the mic, behind the curtain—OK, way behind it. From growing up with a mom who made me dance like Michael Jackson at the Knights of Columbus, to some real dark stuff, the stuff we don’t talk about often enough as immigrants. Mental health, poverty, drinking. And show you the path to my American Dream. Which was paved with a lot of failure, department store raffle tickets to win free color televisions, bad jokes, old VHS tapes, a motorcycle my mom probably still hates, the only college final I aced (wasn’t math), and getting my first laugh on stage. There’s photo evidence of it all here, too.
In this book, I get serious about my funny. And I want to make you laugh a little while I do it. I’m like Hawaii’s favorite lunch—the mixed plate. Little bit of this, a little bit of that. My book Mixed Plate is too.
This was an interesting story about how Jo Koy struggled to find success as a comedian. I listened to the audio, which was great since it's read by the author. I really enjoyed this, as he reads it as only Jo Koy can.
The first thrilling mystery in the new North Falls series from Karin Slaughter, New York Times bestselling author of Pretty Girls and the Will Trent Series. Welcome to North Falls-a small town where everyone knows everyone. Or so they think. Until the night of the fireworks. When two teenage girls vanish, and the town ignites. For Officer Emmy Clifton, it's personal. She turned away when her best friend's daughter needed help-and now she must bring her home. But as Emmy combs through the puzzle the girls left behind, she realizes she never really knew them. Nobody did. Every teenage girl has secrets. But who would kill for them? And what else is the town hiding?
I read this because a patron had suggested it to me, and I have to say I did like it. Although I think my days of watching true crime shows had me asking questions like "Did they test their hands for gunpowder residue? That would tell you who was holding the gun!" I like the characters, the author did a great job of developing them. It was a pretty good book and I will definitely check out the sequel.
A WEEK IN WINTER by MAEVE BINCHY (Pgs 336)
Goodreads Review: Stoneybridge is a small town on the west coast of Ireland where all the families know one another. When Chicky Starr decides to take an old, decaying mansion set high on the cliffs overlooking the windswept Atlantic Ocean and turn it into a restful place for a holiday by the sea, everyone thinks she is crazy. Helped by Rigger (a bad boy turned good who is handy around the house) and Orla, her niece (a whiz at business), Chicky is finally ready to welcome the first guests to Stone House’s big warm kitchen, log fires, and understated elegant bedrooms. John, the American movie star, thinks he has arrived incognito; Winnie and Lillian are forced into taking a holiday together; Nicola and Henry, husband and wife, have been shaken by seeing too much death practicing medicine; Anders hates his father’s business, but has a real talent for music; Miss Nell Howe, a retired schoolteacher, criticizes everything and leaves a day early, much to everyone’s relief; the Walls are disappointed to have won this second-prize holiday in a contest where first prize was Paris; and Freda, the librarian, is afraid of her own psychic visions.
