Out of the Dog House by Dick Portillo with Don Yaeger

Out of the Dog House by Dick Portillo with DonYaeger, 253 pages

If you have ever been to Chicago, you may have eaten a Chicago style hotdog at one of the many Portillos restaurants in the Chicago area.  Dick Portillo's story is a very inspiring one.  He was a high school graduate, who joined the Marines, and came home to marry his high school sweetheart and then soon start his very first hotdog stand.  Funny, he didn't even know how to make a hotdog.  Somehow, he worked everyday for years and made his business worth a billion dollars.  This is a very inspirational book!

Fix Her Up by Tessa Bailey

Fix Her Up by Tessa Bailey - 389 pages

Georgie gets no respect from her family.  They all dismiss her as a child even though she runs her own successful entertainment business as a birthday party clown. 

Travis is back home after retiring from baseball due to an injury.  He feels a failure until he's offered a job as a color analyst.  The only problem is that he has to live down his playboy image as the team wants a family-friendly announcer.

So Georgia comes up with a plan.  Georgie and Travis will "date".  Georgie will be seen as an adult by her family and Travis will look as if he settled down with a girl next door.  But will they be able to keep up the pretense without really falling in love?


I picked up this book after reading a review of it on JCL Reads.  I'm glad I did.  It was a fun, quirky romance that I really enjoyed.  In fact, I went and placed several other books by this author on hold as soon as I finished it.  Hopefully, I like them as much.

Artemis by Andy Weir

Artemis by Andy Weir - 305 pages

This new novel from the author of the bestseller The Martian doesn't disappoint.  Jasmine Bashara is living on the Moon city of Artemis and trying to scrape by and stay under the radar with her smuggling side hustle.  A wealth client offers her the opportunity of a lifetime in return for executing a very dangerous bit of sabotage on a competitor.  The intrigue gets even deeper involving murder and corporate espionage.  Plus its all happening on the Moon! 

Weir continues to use real science to back up his "science fiction" so the world he builds comes across as eminently plausible.  Plus the very true to life characters draw you in and make you root for them to succeed even if what they are doing is technically a crime. 

The $100 Startup by Chris Guillebeau

The $100 Startup: Reinvent the Way You Make a Living, Do What You Love, and Create a New Future by Chris Guillebeau -- 268 pages

This is a collection of stories as well as guidelines for starting a small business from nothing. I found it very inspiring and informative.

Murder of a Stacked Librarian: A Scumble River Mystery by Denise Swanson

Murder of a Stacked Librarian by Denise Swanson - 260 pages
A Scumble River Mystery

Skye has enough to worry about this holiday season. She is getting married the week after Christmas.  She doesn't need another murder to solve.  However, that is exactly what happens when her police chief fiance misses Christmas Eve with her family due to the librarian being forced off the road.  Now Skye must work with Wally to solve the murder so they can get married.
I really enjoyed this book.  I picked it as it featured a librarian for our month's challenge.  However, I believe I might try to read some more of the books in the series.

Afterburn / Aftershock - Sylvia Day

Afterburn / Aftershock by Sylvia Day
254 pages

Never mix business with pleasure. Never bring politics into the bedroom. In a way I did both when I took Jackson Rutledge as a lover. I can't say I wasn't warned.  Two years later, he was back. Walking into a deal I'd worked hard to close. Under the tutelage of Lei Yeung, one of the sharpest businesswomen in New York, I had picked up a thing or two since Jax walked away. I wasn't the girl he once knew, but he hadn't changed. Unlike the last time we'd drifted into each other's lives, I knew exactly what I was dealing with--and how addictive his touch could be.  The inner circle of glamour, sex, and privilege was Jax's playground--but this time, I knew the rules of the game. In the cutthroat business world, one adage rules all: keep your enemies close and your ex-lovers closer...

Perfect Partners by Jayne Ann Krentz

Perfect Partners by Jayne Ann Krentz - 339 pages

Former librarian Letitia Thornquist has just inherited the camping goods empire that Joel Blackstone was slated to purchase in the next year.  He's been making plans for years to use Thornquist Inc as the means for revenge.  However, now he has to deal with idealistic Letitia who wants to take over the company.
Sometimes you just need a book that doesn't require any thought.  This is one of them.  I had read this previously years ago, but long enough that I didn't really remember the revenge scheme.  A fun, quick romance.